四级阅读练习
四级考试英语阅读训练题带答案
四级考试英语阅读训练题带答案四级考试英语阅读训练题(一)Humanity uses a little less than half the water available worldwide. Yet occurrences of shortages and droughts (干旱) are causing famine and distress in some areas, and industrial and agricultural by-products are polluting water supplies. Since the world’ population is e某pected to double in the ne某t 50 years, many e某perts think we are on the edge of a widespread water crisis.But that doesn’t have to be the outcome. Water shortages do not have to trouble the world—if we start valuing water more than we have in the past. Just as we began to appreciate petroleum more after the 1970s oil crises, today we must start looking at water from a fresh economic perspective. We can no longer afford to consider water a virtually freeresource of which we can use as much as we like in any way we want.Instead, for all uses e某cept the domestic demand of the poor, governments should price water to reflect its actual value. This means charging a fee for the water itself as well as for the supply costs.Governments should also protect this resource by providing waterin more economically and environmentally sound ways. For e某ample, often the cheapest way to provide irrigation (灌溉) water in the dry tropics is through small-scale projects, such as gathering rainfallin depressions (凹地) and pumping it to nearby cropland.No matter what steps governments take to provide water more efficiently, they must change their institutional and legal approaches to water sue. Rather than spread control among hundreds oreven thousands of local, regional, and national agencies that watch various aspects of water use, countries should set up central authorities to coordinate water policy.21. What is the real cause of the potential water crisis?A) The world population is increasing faster and faster.B) Half of the world’s water resources have been seriously polluted.C) Humanity has not placed sufficient value on water resources.D) Only half of the world’s water can be used.22. As indicated in the passage, the water problem ________.A) has been e某aggerated by some e某perts in the fieldB) is underestimated by government organizations at different levelsC) poses a challenge to the technology of building reservoirsD) is already serious in certain parts of the world23. According to the author, the water price should ________.A) correspond to its real valueB) be reduced to the minimumC) stimulate domestic demandD) take into account the occurrences of droughts24. The author says that in some hot and dry areas it is advisable to ________.A) build big lakes to store waterB) construct big pumping stationsC) channel water from nearby rivers to croplandD) build small and cheap irrigation systems25. In order to raise the efficiency of the water supply, measures should be taken to ________.A) centralize the management of water resourcesB) increase the sense of responsibility of agencies at all levelsC) guarantee full protection of the environmentD) encourage local and regional control of water resources四级考试英语阅读训练题答案21. D 22. A 23. C 24.C 25. B四级考试英语阅读训练题(二)We can see how the product life cycle works by looking at the introduction of instant coffee. When it was introduced, most people did not like it as well as “regular” coffee, and it took several years to gain general acceptance (introduction stage). At one point, though, instant coffee grew rapidly in popularity, and many brands were introduced (stage of rapid growth). After a while, people became attached to one brand and sales leveled off (stage of maturity).Sales went into a slight decline (衰退) when freeze-dried coffees were introduced (stage of decline).The importance of the product life cycle to marketers is this: Different stages in the product life cycle call for different strategies. The goal is to e某tend product life so that sales and profits do not decline. One strategy is called market modification.It means that marketing managers look for new users and market sections. Did you know, for e某ample, that the backpacks that so many students carry today were originally designed for the military? Market modification also means searching for increased usage among present customers or going for a different market, such as senior citizens. A marketer may re-position the product to appeal to new market sections.Another product e某tension strategy is called productmodification. It involves changing product quality, features, orstyle to attract new users or more usage from present users. American auto manufacturers are using quality improvement as one way to recapture world markets. Note, also, how auto manufacturers once changed styles dramatically from year to year to keep demand from falling.26. According to the passage, when people grow fond of one particular brand of a product, its sales will ________.A) decrease graduallyB) remain at the same levelC) become unstableD) improve enormously27. The first paragraph tells us that a new product is ________.A) not easily accepted by the publicB) often inferior to old ones at firstC) often more e某pensive than old onesD) usually introduced to satisfy different tastes28. Marketers need to know which of the four stages a product is in so as to ________.A) promote its productionB) work out marketing policiesC) speed up its life cycleD) increase its popularity29. The author mentions the e某ample of “backpacks” (Line 4, Para. 2) to show the importance of ________.A) pleasing the young as well as the oldB) increasing usage among studentsC) e某ploring new market sectionsD) serving both military and civil needs30. In order to recover their share of the world market, U.S. auto makers are ________.A) improving product qualityB) increasing product featuresC) modernizing product styleD) re-positioning their product in the market 四级考试英语阅读训练题答案26. D 27. D 28. A 29.B 30. A看完这篇文章的人还看了：1.英语四级考试阅读理解练习附答案2.四级考试英语阅读理解试题带答案3.四级英语阅读理解精选题带答案4.大学英语四级阅读理解练习题带答案5.大学英语四级考试阅读练习及答案。
大学英语四级考试阅读理解练习20篇(20)
大学英语四级考试阅读理解练习20篇（20）导读：本文大学英语四级考试阅读理解练习20篇（20），仅供参考，如果觉得很不错，欢迎点评和分享。
The most interesting architectural phenomenon of the 1970's was the enthusiasm for refurnishing older building. Obviously, this was not an entirely new phenomenon. What is new is the whole scale in reusing the past, in recycling, in adaptive rehabilitation (更新). A few trial efforts, such as Ghirardelli Square in San Francisco, proved their financial feasibility in the 1960's, but it was in the 1970's, with strong government support through tax incentives and rapid depreciation (贬值) , as well as growing interest in ecology (生态) issues, that recycling became a major factor on the urban scene. One of the most comprehensive ventures was the restoration and transformation of Boston's eighteenth century Faneuil Hall and the Quincy Market, designed in 1824. This section had fallen on hard times, but beginning with the construction of a new city hall immediately nearby, it has returned to life with the intelligent reuse of these fine old buildings under the design leadership of Benjamin Thompson. He has provided a marvelous setting for dining, shopping, professional office, and simply walking.Butler Square, in Minneapolis, serves as an example of major changes in its complex of offices, commercial space, and public amenities carved out of a massive pile designed in 1906 as a hardware warehouse. The exciting interior timber structure of the building was highlighted by cutting light courts through the interior and adding large skylights.San Antonio, Texas, offers a big object lesson for numerous other cities combating urban decay. Rather than bringing in the bulldozers ( 推土机) , San Antonio's leaders rehabilitated existing structures, while simultaneously cleaning up the San Antonio River, which runs through the business district.26. The main idea of the passage is_______.A. during the 1970's, old building in many cities were recycled for modern useB. recent interest in ecology issues has led to the cleaning up of many riversC. the San Antonio example shows that bulldozers are not the right way to fight urban decayD. strong government support has made adaptive rehabilitation a reality in Boston27. According to the passage, Benjamin Thompson was the designer for a project inA. BostonB. San FranciscoC. MinneapolisD. San Antonio28. The space at Quincy Market is now used as_______.A. Boston's new city hallB. sports and recreational facilitiesC. commercial and industrial warehousesD. restaurants, offices, and stores29. What is the author's opinion of the San Antonio's project?A. It is clearly the best of the projects discussed.B. It is a good project that could be copied by other cities.C. The extensive use of bulldozers made the project unnecessarily costly.D. The work done on the river was more important than work done on thebuildings.30. The passage states that the San Antonio project differed from those in Boston and Minneapolis in that_______.A. it consisted primarily of new buildingsB. it occurred in the business districtC. it involved the environment as well as buildingsD. it was designed to combat urban decay答案：26. A 27. A 28. D 29. C 30. B。
大学英语四级仔细阅读专项练习20篇(附答案)
大学英语四级仔细阅读专项练习20篇（附答案）练习一（2010年12月大学英语四级考试真题）Passage OneQuestions 57 to 61 are based on the following passage.It is pretty much a one-way street. While it may be common for university researchers to try their luck in the commercial world, there is very little traffic in the opposite direction. Pay has always been the biggest deterrent, as people with families often feel they cannot afford the drop in salary when moving to a university job. For some industrial scientists, however, the attractions of academia (学术界) outweigh any financial considerations.Helen Lee took a 70% cut in salary when she moved from a senior post in Abbott Laboratories to a medical department at the University of Cambridge. Her main reason for returning to academia mid-career was to take advantage of the greater freedom to choose research questions. Some areas of inquiry have few prospects of a commercial return, and Lee's is one of them.The impact of a salary cut is probably less severe for a scientist in the early stages of a career. Guy Grant, now a research associate at the Unilever Centre for Molecular Informatics at the University of Cambridge, spent two years working for a pharmaceutical (制药的) company before returning to university as a post-doctoral researcher. He took a 30% salary cut but felt it worthwhile for the greater intellectual opportunities.Higher up the ladder, where a pay cut is usually more significant, the demand for scientists with a wealth of experience in industry is forcing universities to make the transition (转换) to academia more attractive, according to Lee. Industrial scientists tend to receive training that academics do not, such as how to build a multidisciplinary team, manage budgets and negotiate contracts. They are also well placed to bring something extra to the teaching side of an academic role that will help students get a job when they graduate, says Lee, perhaps experience in manufacturing practice or product development. “Only a small number of undergraduates willcontinue in an academic career. So someone leaving university who already has the skills needed to work in an industrial lab has far more potential in the job market than someone who has spent all their time on a narrow research project.”57. By “a one-way street” (Line 1, Para. 1), the author means ________.[A] university researchers know little about the commercial world[B] there is little exchange between industry and academia[C] few industrial scientists would quit to work in a university[D] few university professors are willing to do industrial research58. The word “deterrent” (Line 2, Para. 1) most probably refers to something that ________.[A] keeps someone from taking action [C] attracts people's attention[B] helps to move the traffic [D] brings someone a financial burden59. What was Helen Lee's major consideration when she changed her job in the middle of her career?[A] Flexible work hours. [C] Her preference for the lifestyle on campus.[B] Her research interests. [D] Prospects of academic accomplishments.60. Guy Grant chose to work as a researcher at Cambridge in order to ________.[A] do financially more rewarding work[B] raise his status in the academic world[C] enrich his experience in medical research[D] exploit better intellectual opportunities61. What contribution can industrial scientists make when they come to teach in a university?[A] Increase its graduates' competitiveness in the job market.[B] Develop its students' potential in research.[C] Help it to obtain financial support from industry.[D] Gear its research towards practical applications.Passage TwoQuestions 62 to 66 are based on the following passage.Being sociable looks like a good way to add years to your life. Relationships with family, friends, neighbours, even pets, will all do the trick, but the biggest longevity (长寿) boost seems to come from marriage or an equivalent relationship. The effect was first noted in 1858 by William Farr, who wrote that widows and widowers (鳏夫) were at a much higher risk of dying than their married peers. Studies since then suggest that marriage could add as much as seven years to a man's life and two to a woman's. The effect holds for all causes of death, whether illness, accident or self-harm.Even if the odds are stacked against you, marriage can more than compensate. Linda Waite of the University of Chicago has found that a married older man with heart disease can expect to live nearly four years longer than an unmarried man with a healthy heart. Likewise, a married man who smokes more than a pack a day is likely to live as long as a divorced man who doesn't smoke. There's a flip side, however, as partners are more likely to become ill or die in the couple of years following their spouse's death, and caring for a spouse with mental disorder can leave you with some of the same severe problems. Even so, the odds favour marriage. In a 30-year study of more than 10,000 people, Nicholas Christakis of Harvard Medical School describes how all kinds of social networks have similar effects.So how does it work? The effects are complex, affected by socio-economic factors, health-service provision, emotional support and other more physiological (生理的) mechanisms. For example, social contact can boost development of the brain and immune system, leading to better health and less chance of depression later in life. People in supportive relationships may handle stress better. Then there are the psychological benefits of a supportive partner.A life partner, children and good friends are all recommended if you aim to live to 100. The ultimate social network is still being mapped out, but Christakis says: “People are interconnected, so their health is interconnected.”62. William Farr's study and other studies show that _________.[A] social life provides an effective cure for illness[B] being sociable helps improve one's quality of life[C] women benefit more than men from marriage[D] marriage contributes a great deal to longevity63. Linda Waite's studies support the idea that _________.[A] older men should quit smoking to stay healthy[B] marriage can help make up for ill health[C] the married are happier than the unmarried[D] unmarried people are likely to suffer in later life64. It can be inferred from the context that the “flip side” (Line 4, Para. 2) refers to _________.[A] the disadvantages of being married[B] the emotional problems arising from marriage[C] the responsibility of taking care of one's family[D] the consequence of a broken marriage65. What does the author say about social networks?[A] They have effects similar to those of a marriage.[B] They help develop people's community spirit.[C] They provide timely support for those in need.[D] They help relieve people of their life's burdens.66. What can be inferred from the last paragraph?[A] It's important that we develop a social network when young.[B] To stay healthy, one should have a proper social network.[C] Getting a divorce means risking a reduced life span.[D] We should share our social networks with each other.练习二（2010年6月英语四级考试真题）Passage OneQuestions 57 to 61 are based on the following passage.You never see him, but they're with you every time you fly. They record where you are going, how fast you're traveling and whether everything on your airplane is functioning normally. Their ability to withstand almost any disaster makes them seem like something out of a comic book. They're known as the black box.When planes fall from the sky, as a Yemeni airliner did on its way to Comoros Islands in the India Ocean, June 30, 2009, the black box is the best bet for identifying what went wrong. So when a French submarine (潜水艇) detected the device's homing signal five days later, the discovery marked a huge step toward determining the cause of a tragedy in which 152 passengers were killed.In 1958, Australian scientist David Warren developed a flight-memory recorder that would track basic information like altitude and direction. That was the first mode for a black box, which became a requirement on all U.S. commercial flights by 1960. Early models often failed to withstand crashes, however, so in 1965 the device was completely redesigned and moved to the rear of the plane – the area least subject to impact – from its original position in the landing wells (起落架舱). The same year, the Federal Aviation Authority required that the boxes, which were never actually black, be painted orange or yellow to aid visibility.Modern airplanes have two black boxes: a voice recorder, which tracks pilots' conversations, and a flight-data recorder, which monitors fuel levels, engine noises and other operating functions that help investigators reconstruct the aircraft's final moments. Placed in an insulated (隔绝的) case and surrounded by a quarter-inch-thick panels of stainless steel, the boxes can withstand massive force and temperatures up to 2,000℉. When submerged, they're also able to emit signals from depths of 20,000 ft. Experts believe the boxes from Air France Flight 447, which crashed near Brazil on June 1,2009, are in water nearly that deep, but statistics say they're still likely to turn up. In the approximately 20 deep-sea crashes over the past 30 years, only one plane's black boxes were never recovered.57. What does the author say about the black box?A) It ensures the normal functioning of an airplane.B) The idea for its design comes from a comic book.C) Its ability to ward off disasters is incredible.D) It is an indispensable device on an airplane.58. What information could be found from the black box on the Yemeni airliner?A) Data for analyzing the cause of the crash.B) The total number of passengers on board.C) The scene of the crash and extent of the damage.D) Homing signals sent by the pilot before the crash.59. Why was the black box redesigned in 1965?A) New materials became available by that time.B) Too much space was needed for its installation.C) The early models often got damaged in the crash.D) The early models didn't provide the needed data.60. Why did the Federal Aviation Authority require the black boxes be painted orange or yellow?A) To distinguish them from the colour of the plane.B) To caution people to handle them with care.C) To make them easily identifiable.D) To conform to international standards.61. What do we know about the black boxes from Air France Flight 447?A) There is still a good chance of their being recovered.B) There is an urgent need for them to be reconstructed.C) They have stopped sending homing signals.D) They were destroyed somewhere near Brazil.Passage TwoQuestions 62 to 66 are based on the following passage.The $11 billion self-help industry is built on the idea that you should turn negative thoughts like “I never do anything right” into positive ones like “I can succeed.” Butwas positive thinking advocate Norman Vincent Peale right? Is there power in positive thinking?Researchers in Canada just published a study in the journal Psychological Science that says trying to get people to think more positively can actually have the opposite effect: it can simply highlight how unhappy they are.The study's authors, Joanne Wood and John Lee of the University of Waterloo and Elaine Perunovic of the University of New Brunswick, begin by citing older research showing that when people get feedback which they believe is overly positive, they actually feel worse, not better. If you tell your dim friend that he has the potential of an Einstein, you're just underlining his faults. In one 1990s experiment, a team including psychologist Joel Cooper of Princeton asked participants to write essays opposing funding for the disabled. When the essayists were later praised for their sympathy, they felt even worse about what they had written.In this experiment, Wood, Lee and Perunovic measured 68 students' self-esteem. The participants were then asked to write down their thoughts and feelings for four minutes. Every 15 seconds, one group of students heard a bell. When it rang, they were supposed to tell themselves, “I am lovable.”Those with low self-esteem didn't feel better after the forced self-affirmation. In fact, their moods turned significantly darker than those of members of the control group, who weren't urged to think positive thoughts.The paper provides support for newer forms of psychotherapy (心理治疗) that urge people to accept their negative thoughts and feelings rather than fight them. In the fighting, we not only often fail but can make things worse. Meditation (静思) techniques, in contrast, can teach people to put their shortcomings into a larger, more realistic perspective. Call it the power of negative thinking.62. What do we learn from the first paragraph about the self-help industry?A) It is a highly profitable industry.B) It is based on the concept of positive thinking.C) It was established by Norman Vincent Peale.D) It has yielded positive results.63. What is the finding of the Canadian researchers?A) Encouraging positive thinking many do more harm than good.B) There can be no simple therapy for psychological problems.C) Unhappy people cannot think positively.D) The power of positive thinking is limited.64. What does the author mean by “… you're just underlining his faults” (Line 4, Para.3)?A) You are not taking his mistakes seriously enough.B) You are pointing out the errors he has committed.C) You are emphasizing the fact that he is not intelligent.D) You are trying to make him feel better about his faults.65. What do we learn from the experiment of Wood, Lee and Perunovic?A) It is important for people to continually boost their self-esteem.B) Self-affirmation can bring a positive change to one's mood.C) Forcing a person to think positive thoughts may lower their self-esteem.D) People with low self-esteem seldom write down their true feelings.66. What do we learn from the last paragraph?A) The effects of positive thinking vary from person to person.B) Meditation may prove to be a good form of psychotherapy.C) Different people tend to have different ways of thinking.D) People can avoid making mistakes through meditation.练习三（2013年6月大学英语四级考试真题）Passage OneQuestions 57 to 61 are based on the following passage.Junk food is everywhere. We're eating too much of it. Most of us know what we're doing and yet we do it anyway.So here's a suggestion offered by two researchers at the Rand Corporation: Why not take a lesson from alcohol control policies and apply them to where food is soldand how it's displayed?“Many policy measures to control obesity（肥胖症）assume that people consciously and rationally choose what and how much they eat and therefore focus on providing information and more access to healthier foods,” note the two researchers.“In contrast,” the researchers continue, “many regulations that don't assume people make rational choices have been successfully applied to control alcohol, a substance — like food — of which immoderate consumption leads to serious health problems.”The research references studies of people's behavior with food and alcohol and results of alcohol restrictions, and then lists five regulations that the researchers think might be promising if applied to junk foods. Among them:Density restrictions: licenses to sell alcohol aren't handed out unplanned to all comers but are allotted（分配）based on the number of places in an area that already sell alcohol. These make alcohol less easy to get and reduce the number of psychological cues to drink.Similarly, the researchers say, being presented with junk food stimulates our desire to eat it. So why not limit the density of food outlets, particularly ones that sell food rich in empty calories? And why not limit sale of food in places that aren't primarily food stores?Display and sales restrictions: California has a rule prohibiting alcohol displays near the cash registers in gas stations, and in most places you can't buy alcohol at drive-through facilities. At supermarkets, food companies pay to have their wares in places where they're easily seen. One could remove junk food to the back of the store and ban them from the shelves at checkout lines. The other measures include restricting portion sizes, taxing and prohibiting special price deals for junk foods, and placing warning labels on the products.57. What does the author say about junk food?A) People should be educated not to eat too much.B) It is widely consumed despite its ill reputation.C) Its temptation is too strong for people to resist.D) It causes more harm than is generally realized.58. What do the Rand researchers think of many of the policy measures to control obesity?A) They should be implemented effectively.B) They provide misleading information.C) They are based on wrong assumptions.D) They help people make rational choices.59. Why do policymakers of alcohol control place density restrictions?A) Few people are able to resist alcohol's temptations.B) There are already too many stores selling alcohol.C) Drinking strong alcohol can cause social problems.D) Easy access leads to customers' over-consumption.60. What is the purpose of California's rule about alcohol display in gas stations?A) To effectively limit the density of alcohol outlets.B) To help drivers to give up the habit of drinking.C) To prevent possible traffic jams in nearby areas.D) To get alcohol out of drivers' immediate sight.61. What is the general guideline the Rand researchers suggest about junk food control?A) Guiding people to make rational choices about food.B) Enhancing people's awareness of their own health.C) Borrowing ideas from alcohol control measures.D) Resorting to economic, legal and psychological means.Passage TwoQuestions 62 to 66 are based on the following passage.Kodak's decision to file for bankruptcy（破产）protection is a sad, though not unexpected, turning point for a leading American corporation that pioneered consumer photography and dominated the film market for decades, but ultimatelyfailed to adapt to the digital revolution.Although many attribute Kodak's downfall to “complacency(自满)”, that explanation doesn't acknowledge the lengths to which the company went to reinvent itself. Decades ago, Kodak anticipated that digital photography would overtake film — and in fact, Kodak invented the first digital camera in 1975 — but in a fateful decision, the company chose to shelf its new discovery to focus on its traditional film business.It wasn't that Kodak was blind to the future, said Rebecca Henderson, a professor at Harvard Business School, but rather that it failed to execute on a strategy to confront it. By the time the company realized its mistake, it was too late.Kodak is an example of a firm that was very much aware that they had to adapt, and spent a lot of money trying to do so, but ultimately failed. Large companies have a difficult time switching into new markets because there is a temptation to put existing assets into the new businesses.Although Kodak anticipated the inevitable rise of digital photography, its corporate（企业的）culture was too rooted in the successes of the past for it to make the clean break necessary to fully embrace the future. They were a company stuck in time. Their history was so important to them. Now their history has become a liability.Kodak's downfall over the last several decades was dramatic. In 1976, the company commanded 90% of the market for photographic film and 85% of the market for cameras. But the 1980s brought new competition from Japanese film company Fuji Photo, which undermined Kodak by offering lower prices for film and photo supplies. Kodak's decision not to pursue the role of official film for the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics was a major miscalculation. The bid went instead to Fuji, which exploited its sponsorship to win a permanent foothold in the marketplace.62. What do we learn about Kodak?A) It went bankrupt all of a sudden.B) It is approaching its downfall.C) It initiated the digital revolution in the film industry.D) It is playing a dominant role in the film market.63. Why does the author mention Kodak's invention of the first digital camera?A) To show its early attempt to reinvent itself.B) To show its effort to overcome complacency.C) To show its quick adaptation to the digital revolution.D) To show its will to compete with Japan's Fuji photo.64. Why do large companies have difficulty switching to new markets?A) They find it costly to give up their existing assets.B) They tend to be slow in confronting new challenges.C) They are unwilling to invest in new technology.D) They are deeply stuck in their glorious past.65. What does the author say Kodak's history has become?A) A burden.B) A mirror.C) A joke.D) A challenge.66. What was Kodak's fatal mistake?A) Its blind faith in traditional photography.B) Its failure to see Fuji photo's emergence.C) Its refusal to sponsor the 1984 Olympics.D) Its overconfidence in its corporate culture.练习四（2014年6月英语四级考试真题）Passage OneQuestions 56 to 60are based on the following passage.The question of whether our government should promote science and technology or the liberal arts in higher education isn't an either/or proposition(命题)，although the current emphasis on preparing young Americans for STEM (science, technology, engineering, maths)----related fields can make it seem that way.The latest congressional report acknowledges the critical importance of technicaltraining, but also asserts that the study of the humanities (人文学科)and social sciences must remain central components of America's educational system at all levels. Both are critical to producing citizens who can participate effectively in our democratic society, become innovative (创新的) leaders, and benefit from the spiritual enrichment that the reflection on the great ideas of mankind over time provides.Parents and students who have invested heavily in higher education worry about graduates' job prospects as technological advances and changes in domestic and global markets transform professions in ways that reduce wages and cut jobs. Under these circumstances, it's natural to look for what may appear to be the most “practical” way out of the problem “Major in a subject designed to get you a job” seems the obvious answer to some, though this ignores the fact that many disciplines in the humanities characterized as “soft” often, in fact, lead to employment and success in the long run. Indeed, according to surveys, employers have expressed a preference for students who have received a broadly-based education that has taught them to write well, think critically, research creatively, and communicate easily.Moreover, students should be prepared not just for their first job, but for their 4th and 5th jobs, as there's little reason to doubt that people entering the workforce today will be called upon to play many different roles over the course of their careers. The ones who will do the best in this new environment will be those whose educations have prepared them to be flexible. The ability to draw upon every available tool and insight----picked up from science, arts, and technology—to solve the problems of the future, and take advantage of the opportunities that present themselves, will be helpful to them and the United States.56. What does the latest congressional report suggest?A) STEM-related subjects help students find jobs in the information society.B) The humanities and STEM subjects should be given equal importance.C) The liberal arts in higher education help enrich students' spiritual life.D) Higher education should be adjusted to the practical needs of society.57. What is the main concern of students when they choose a major?A) Their interest in relevant subjects.B) The academic value of the courses.C) The quality of education to receive.D) Their chances of getting a good job.58. What does the author say about the so called soft subjects?A) They benefit students in their future life.B) They broaden students' range of interests.C) They improve students' communication skills.D) They are essential to students' healthy growth.59. What kind of job applicants do employers look for?A) Those who have a strong sense of responsibility.B) Those who are good at solving practical problems.C) Those who are likely to become innovative leaders.D) Those who have received a well-rounded education.60. What advice does the author give to college students?A) Seize opportunities to tap their potential.B) Try to take a variety of practical courses.C) Prepare themselves for different job options.D) Adopt a flexible approach to solving problems.Passage TwoQuestions 61 to 65 are based on the following passage.Energy independence. It has a nice ring to it. Doesn't it? If you think so, you're not alone, because energy independence has been the dream of American president for decades, and never more so than in the past few years, when the most recent oil price shock has been partly responsible for kicking off the great recession.“Energy independence” and its rhetorical (修辞的) companion “energy security” are, however, slippery concepts that are rarely though through. What is it we want independence from, exactly?Most people would probably say that they want to be independent from imported oil. But there are reasons that we buy all that old from elsewhere.The first reason is that we need it to keep our economy running. Yes, there is a trickle（涓涓细流）of biofuel（生物燃料）available, and more may become available, but most biofuels cause economic waste and environmental destruction.Second, Americans have basically decided that they don't really want to produce all their own oil. They value the environmental quality they preserve over their oil imports from abroad. Vast areas of the United States are off-limits to oil exploration and production in the name of environmental protection. To what extent are Americans really willing to endure the environmental impacts of domestic energy production in order to cut back imports?Third, there are benefits to trade. It allows for economic efficiency, and when we buy things from places that have lower production costs than we do, we benefit. And although you don't read about this much, the United States is also a large exporter of oil products, selling about 2 million barrels of petroleum products per day to about 90 countries.There is no question that the United States imports a great deal of energy and, in fact, relies on that steady flow to maintain its economy. When that flow is interrupted, we feel the pain in short supplies and higher prices, At the same time, we derive massive economic benefits when we buy the most affordable energy on the world market and when we engage in energy trade around the world.61. What does the author say about energy independence for America?A) It sounds very attractive.B) It ensures national security.C) It will bring oil prices downD) It has long been everyone's dream.62. What does the author think of biofuels?A) They keep America's economy running healthily.B) They prove to be a good alternative to petroleum.。
四级英语阅读理解练习题及答案
四级英语阅读理解练习题及答案四级英语阅读理解练习题1：There is a difference between science and technology. Science is a method of answering theoretical questions; technology is a method of solving practical problems. Science has to do with discovering the facts and relationships between observable phenomena in nature and with establishing theories that serve to organize these facts and relationships; technology has to do with tools, techniques, and procedures for implementing the finding of science.Another distinction between science and technology has to do with the progress in each.Progress in science excludes the human factor. Scientists, who seek to comprehend the universe and know the truth within the highest degree of accuracy and certainty, cannot pay attention to their own or other peoples likes or dislikes or to popular ideas about the fitness of things. What scientists discover may shock or anger people-as did Darwins theory of evolution. But even an unpleasant truth is more than likely to be useful; besides, we have the choice of refusing to believe it! But hardly so with technology; we do not have the choice of refusing to hear the sonic boom produced by a supersonic aircraft flying overhead; we do not have the option of refusing to breathe polluted air; and we do not have the option of living in a non-atomic age. Unlike science progress, technology mustbe measured in terms of the human factor. The legitimate purpose of technology is to serve people in general, not merely some people; and future generations, not merely those who presently wish to gain advantage for themselves. Technology must be humanistic if it is to lead to a better world.21. The difference between science and technology lies in that _____.A) the former provides answers to theoretical questions while the latter to practical problemsB) the former seeks to comprehend the universe while the latter helps change the material worldC) the former aims to discover the inter-connections of facts and the rules that explain them while the latter, to discover new designs and ways of making the things we use in our daily lifeD) all of the above22. Which of the following may be representative of science?A) The improvement of peoples life.B) The theory of peoples life.C) Farming tools.D) Mass production.23. According to the author, scientific theories _____.A) must be strictly objectiveB) usually take into consideration peoples likes and dislikesC) should conform to popular opinionsD) always appear in perfect and finished forms24. The author states that technology itself _____.A) is responsible for widespread pollution and resource exhaustionB) should serve those who wish to gain advantage for themselvesC) will lead to a better world if put to wise useD) will inevitably be for bad purpose25. The tone of the author in this passage is _____.A) positive B) negative C) factual D) critical四级英语阅读理解练习题答案：DBACC四级英语阅读理解练习题2：Americans have always been ambivalent in their attitudes toward education. On the one hand, free and universal public education was seen as necessary in a democracy, for how else would citizens learn how to govern themselves in a responsible way? On the other hand, America was always a country that offered financial opportunities for which education was not needed: on the road from rags to riches, schooling-beyond the basics of reading, writing, and arithmetic-was an unnecessary detour.Even today, it is still possible for people to achieve financial success without much education, but the number of situations in which this is possible is decreasing. In todays more complex world, the opportunitiesfor financial success is closely related to the need for education, especially higher education.Our society is rapidly becoming one whose chief product is information, and dealing with this information requires more and more specialized education. In other words, we grow up learning more and more about fewer and fewer subjects.In the future, this trend is likely to continue. Tomorrows world will be even more complex than todays world, and, to manage this complexity, even more specialized education will be needed.26. The topic treated in this passage is _____.A) education in general B) Americans attitudes C) higher educationD) American education27. Americans attitudes toward education have always been _____.A) certain B) contradictory C) ambitious D) unclear28. Today, financial success is closely related to the need for _____.A) higher education B) public education C) responsible citizens D) learning the basics29. It can be inferred from the third paragraph that _____.A) information is our only productB) education in the future will be specializedC) we are entering an age of informationD) we are living in an age of information30. Which of the following is the best title for the passage?A) The History of American Education.B) The Need for Specialized Education.C) The Future of the American Educational System.D) Attitudes toward American Education. Passage Three四级英语阅读理解练习题答案：DBABD。
英语四级阅读理解精选练习及答案
英语四级阅读理解精选练习及答案英语四级阅读理解练习一：Personality is , to large extent, inherent --A-type parents usually bring about A-type offspring. But the environment must also have a profound effect, since if competition is improtant to the parents, it is likely to become a major factor lives of their children.One place where children soak up A characteristics is school, which is, by its very nature, a highly competitive institution. Too many schools adopt the "win at all costs" moral standard and measure their success by sporting achievements. The current passion for making children compete against their classmates or against the clock produces a two-layer system, in which competitive A types seem in some way better than their B-type fellows. Being too keen to win can have dangerous consequences:remember that Pheidippides ,the first marathon runner, dropped dead seconds after saying:"Rejoice, we conquer!".By far the worst form of competition in school is the disproportionate emphasis on examinations . It is a rare school that allows pupils to concentrate on those things they do well.The merits of competition by examination are somewhat questionable, but competition in the certain knowledge of failure is positively harmful.Obviously, it is neither practical nor desirable that all A youngsters change into Bs. The would needs types, and schools have an important dutyto try to fit a childs personality to his possible future employment. It is top management.1. According to the author, what factors contribute to the building of personality?A. inheritanceb. inheritance, competition and environmentc. competitiond. environment2.Which of the following statements is not true according to the author of the passage?A. Schools usually adopt severe competitive policies.B. Students are often divided by competition results.C. School is place where children cultivate their characteristics.D. The stronger desire for winning, the better.3.The phrase "soak up" is closest in meaning to ____.A. pull up b. take up c. take in d. pull in4.What attitude does the author hold toward examinations in schools?A. positive b. negative c. doubtful d. neutral5.what suggestion does the author make concerning the management of schools?A. All students be made into competitive A types.B. A childs personality be considered in regard to his possible future job.C. All students be changed into B characteristics.D. Schools abolish all forms of examinations.答案：bdccb英语四级阅读理解练习二：Nearly everybody buys a used car sooner or later, as a primary vehicle (首要的交通工具) or as a second car. Indeed(当然), three out of four sales today are used cars, and theyre not cheap junkers (废物)either—the average price now is $ 5500, about half what a new car costs. Make the wrong selection and a major investment (投资)can be lost the moment you drive off the lot.There is far less chance of this happening to you if you know: when to buy, where to buy, how to examine (仔细检查) the car, how to conduct (进行) your own road test, and how to bargain over (讲价)the price.When to buyShop during the day. Lighting makes cars gleam (V 闪光)like jewels (宝石)at night. In daylight they look dull (黯淡的), but realistic.Dont shop in the rain. It can mask(掩盖) liquids (液体) that might be leaking (泄漏). If possible, shop in the winter when supplies are high and demand (需求)is low.Where to buyShop the suburbs. In more affluent (富有的)neighborhoods cars are more likely to have been well cared for.A private owner normally sells a car for less than a dealer(商人) does, but almost always "as is," with no guarantee(质量保证). Thats an acceptable risk if what youre looking for is a cheap second car to "drive to the station. "Even though a used-car dealer generally charges more, you can often get some type of limited guarantee. This is often a 50-50 plan, in which you each pay half on repairs for a period (一段时间)that may range from 30 days to a year. Ask the dealer about the availability of an optional(可选择的) service policy.Used-car dealers often claim (声称)to have gone over (仔细查看)the car, and many have. But remember that small dealers often buy cars that are auctioned (拍卖 ) because nobody else wants them.Some experts feel that a new-car dealer is the best place to buy a secondhand car, especially if youre laying out a large sum (一笔金钱) for a late model. Some of these dealers offer extensive (广阔的)guarantees, such as one on the "drive train," which covers any problems with engine (发动机), transmission(变速器) ， drive shaft and differential (差速器 ). Expect to pay for this, as well as for the markup (标高的价格). But if you shop soon after the new models have arrived, when a dealer has a lot of trade-ins tying up his profits, he might deal. The visual examination (视觉上的检查)Youve found your dream car, and can hardly wait to get in and roar away. Wait.First, look for any flaws (瑕疵)or ripples(划痕) in the body that might indicate a past accident (暗示曾经出过事故). To see if a car has been repainted(重新漆过), look under the rubber seals around the door or under the chrome trim. Repainting may mask deep flaws (重新上漆可能隐藏深层的瑕疵).Check the odometer (计程器) for total mileage (英里数), and then compare that figure (数字)with any stickers still attached to door posts. Its illegal to change odometer readings, but it happens. If there are no stickers, be a little suspicious. Check pedals and controls: wear on these parts should agree with the mileage. If they are brand new, be suspicious. If they are worn out, beware.Check that the doors, hood and trunk all open smoothly and close with solid sound. Sight along the sides of the car from 30 feet away to be sure that the rear and front wheels line up.Look under the car for fluid leaks. Except for condensation from a working air conditioner on a hot day, no car should ever drip anything, any time.Now sit in the drivers seat and try the controls. The car should fit you—it should be comfortable. Check seat adjustment, door locks, window-raising mechanisms, horn, lights, directional signals, radio—all accessories.Start the engine. It should turn over quickly and then settle down to a rather fast idle. Give the engine a moment or two before you press the accelerator a bit. Watch for smoke from the rear. Blue smoke mightmean a complete engine overhaul (大修) , black a maladjusted carburetor (化油器). 2White smoke can be. Ignored if the engine is cold, but once it is warmed up, white smoke can mean a leaking head gasket (垫圈) : expensive. Reject this car.After the engine has warmed, shut it off, and then go wipe your finger inside the tailpipe (making sure its not too hot). The residue should be whitish-gay. If you get a black, oily mark, refuse the car—its probably an oil burner.Restart the engine and check the oil in an automatic transmission. It should be clean and clear, with no burned odor. The test drive The salesman may try to convince you that a short drive around the block is enough. Wrong. Make it clear that you plan to road test the car, and if he isnt happy with this look elsewhere.The test route you have mapped out should include dry city streets, a freeway, a hill, a bumpy road and an empty parking lot. All gauges(计量器) should read steady and normal throughout the test, especially oil pressure and engine heat. If not, dont buy the car.Drive to a traffic-free city street on your predetermined route and then accelerate smoothly to about 35 miles per hour. The automatic transmission should shift without jerking and with no noise.Slow to about 7 m. p. h. by gently applying the brakes. There should be no noise, no sharp sound or grinding. The car should slow in a straight line, with no pulling to the right or left.Pick up speed to about 15; then making certain nobody is behind you, hit the brakes hard! The car should come to an immediate stop without making noise or swerving.In an empty, level parking lot, brake to a complete stop. Shift into reverse and back up at about 4 m. p. h. , brake to a halt, shift into forward, etc. Do this four or five times to test the transmission. All shifting should be smooth, with no noise or hesitation.Accelerate up a hill to about 40 m. p. h. The car should not labor. If it does, you could have a rotten transmission. Go back down the hill. Stop halfway, shift into neutral and set the parking brake. The car should remain stationary when you take your foot off the brake pedal.Drive the car over the bumpy road, up a hill, and on the highway. Rarely will a car be perfect. However by now you should have a pretty good idea what needs to be done. How to bargainUse what youve learned from the visual exam, test drive and outside mechanic to get the price down. Have a maximum figure in mind, based on your inspection and on current prices from a used-car guide. Start your bidding lower than that. When you have nearly arrived at a price, get the seller to throw in certain repairs. It may be cheaper for him than further price cuts.1. Following the instructions here will help you make a good selection when buying a used car.2. Winter is a good time for purchasing a car because there is little rain in winter.3. You are more likely to pay less to a private owner for a car of poor quality.4. Refuse the car if you find any signs of a past accident in the visual examination.5. Dont buy the car if there is white smoke coming out of the rear because it is probably an oil burner.6. At certain speeds in the tests, a good car should not make any noise when the driver brakes either hard or gently.7. If you are patient and careful enough, you will certainly find a perfect used car.8. The last step before you make a decision to buy a car is______.9. Besides all gauges, the two very important systems mainly examined in the test drive are______.10. According to some experts, the best place to buy a second-hand car is______.答案：1. Y 2. N 3. Y 4. NG 5. N 6. Y 7. N 8. to bargain over the price 9. brake and transmission 10. a new-car dealer。
英语四级阅读理解练习题及解析
英语四级阅读理解练习题及解析(1)【阅读练习】What is it about Americans and food? We love to eat,but we feel 1 about it afterward. We say we want only the bes t, but we strangely enjoy junkfood.We’re 2 with health an d weight loss but face an unprecedented epidemic of obesity(肥胖). Perhaps the 3 to this ambivalence(矛盾情结) lies in our history. The first Europeans cameto this con tinent searching for new spices but went in vain. The first cash crop经(济作物)wasn’t eaten but smoked. Then there was Prohibition, i ntended to prohibit drinking butactually encouraging more 4 ways of doing it.The immigrant experience, too, has been one of inharmony.Do as Romans do meanseating what ―real Americans‖ e at, but our nation’s food has come to be 5 by import—s piz za,say, or hot dogs. And some of thecountry’s most treas ured cooking comes from people whoarrived here in shack les.Perhaps it should come as no surprise then that food has been a medium for the nation’sdefining struggles, whether at the Boston Tea Party or the sit?ins at southern lunch c ounters.It is integral to our concepts of health and even m orality whether one refrains from alcohol forreligious reaso ns or evades meat for political 6But strong opinions have not brought 7 . Americans are a mbivalent about what they putin their mouths. We have b ecome 8 of our foods, especially as we learn more about what theycontain.The 9 in food is still prosperous in the American conscious ness. It’s no coincidence, then,that the first Thanksgiving holds the American imagination in such bondage( 束缚). It’s whatwe eat—and how we 10 it with friends, famil y, and strangers—that help define America as acommunity today.A.answer I. creativeB.result J. beliefC.share K. suspiciousD.guilty L. certaintyE.constant M. obsessedF.defined N. identifyG.vanish O. idealsH.adapted【答案及详解】1. D feel 是一个系动词，可以判断此处应填入一个形容词，通过上下文意思，以及后面介词about, 可以确定选项为D 项guilty, 短语feel guilty about sth. 对……感到有愧‖。
英语四级阅读练习及答案解析
英语四级阅读练习及答案解析ANSWER:1.选J)。
此处应填副词。
可选项有totally和alone，由前一句中just可推出，外表上的细节仅仅能告诉我们这个人的健康状况，平时的营养状况以及他所从事的工作而不能看出他所处的阶级，故排除totally而选alone“惟一”。
2.选D)。
此处应填形容词。
因此此句和前一句是在将以前的工人阶级和上层阶级的身体状况进行对比，故此处应填与small“矮的”意思相反的词，选项中只有tall符合题意。
而full“丰满的”不能用来修饰sporting types,故排除。
3.选G)。
此处应填名词。
现在的生活和工作条件改善了，情况已经不同了。
而such指代的是上文中对一百年以前工人阶级和上层阶级的身体状况的身体状况的描述，故descriptions“描述”符合题意。
4.选B)。
此处应填名词。
根据句意“衣服可以提供...方面的信息”，选项中有background和hobby，选background“人的背景，社会阶层”，符合*主题。
5.选I)。
由as well可知，此处应填名词且与本段首句中的informaiton 的意思相近，选项中只有clues“线索”符合题意。
6.选K)。
此处应填动词的原形。
选项中有appear和consider,appear可直接接不定式;而consider带不定式的复合结构，用于主动语态时，consider后面得接宾语，故选appear。
7选F)。
这句中this指代bright colour，句子主干是any opportunity is...。
可选项有taken和fetched,take“抓住”则可以与opportunity搭配，但fetch“拿来”不能与 opportunity构成动宾搭配，故排除fetched而选taken。
8.选A)。
此处应填形容词。
句子意思是“衣服的价钱......，大多数人都买得起。
”选项中只有available“可以接受的”符合题意。
(完整版)英语四级阅读理解练习题及解析.docx
.英语四级阅读理解练习题及解析(1)【阅读练习】What is it about Americans and food? We love toeat ,but we feel 1 about it afterward. We say we want only the best, but we strangely enjoy junkfood.We’re 2 with health and weight loss but face an unprecedented epidemic of obesity(肥胖 ). Perhaps the 3 to this ambivalence(矛盾情结) lies in our history. The first Europeans cametothis continent searching for new spices but went in vain. The first cash crop(经济作物)wasn’t eaten but smoked. Then there was Prohibition, intended to prohibit drinking butactually encouraging more 4 ways of doing it.The immigrant experience, too, has been one of inharmony. Do as Romans do meanseating what“real Amer icans ” eat, but our nation ’s food has come to be5 by imports—pizza,say, or hot dogs. And some of the country ’s most treasured cooking comes from peo ple whoarrived here in shackles.Perhaps it should come as no surprise then that food has been a medium for the nation ’sdefining strug gles, whether at the Boston Tea Party or the sit?ins at southern lunch counters.It is integral to ourconcepts of health and even morality whether onere frains from alcohol forreligious reasons or evadesmeat for political 6But strong opinions have not brought 7 . Americansare ambivalent about what they putin their mouths.We have become 8 of our foods, especially as welea rn more about what theycontain.The 9 in food is still prosperous in the American c onsciousness. It ’s no coincidence, then,that the f irst Thanksgiving holds the American imagination in such bondage( 束缚 ). It ’s whatwe eat—and how we 10 it with friends, family, and strangers—that help define Americaas acommunity today.A. answer I. creativeB. result J. beliefC. share K. suspiciousD. guilty L. certaintyE. constant M. obsessedF. defined N. identifyG. vanish O. idealsH. adapted【答案及解】1.D feel 是一个系，可以判断此填入一个形容，通上下文意思，以及后面介about, 可以确定D guilty,短feel guilty about sth.“ ⋯⋯感到有愧”。
大学英语四级阅读习题及答案
大学英语四级阅读习题及答案大学英语四级阅读习题(一)1、A2、D3、C4、C5、B大学英语四级阅读习题答案Acculturation, which begins at birth, is the process of teaching new generations of children the customs and values of the parents culture. How people treat newborns, for example, can be indicative of cultural values. In the United States it is not uncommon for parents to put a newborn in a separate room that belongs only to the child. This helps to preserve parents privacy and allows the child to get used to having his or her own room, which is seen as a first step toward personal independence. Americans traditionally have held independence and a closely related value, individualism, in high esteem. Parents try to instill these prevailing values in their children. American English expresses these value preferences: children should "cut the (umbilical) cord" and are encouraged not to be "tied to their mothers apron strings." In the process of their socialization children learn to "look out for number one" and to "stand on their own two feet".Many children are taught at a very early age to make decisions and be responsible for their actions. Often children work for money outside the home as a first step to establishing autonomy. Nine-or ten-year-old children may deliver newspapers in their neighborhoods and save or spend their earnings. Teenagers (13 to 18 years) may baby-sit neighbors homes in order to earn a few dollar a week. Receiving a weekly allowance at an early age teaches children to budget their money, preparing them for future financial independence. Many parents believe that managing money helps children learn responsibility as well as appreciate the value of money.21. According to this passage, the way people treat newborns _____.A) is a sign of their customsB) is an indication of their level of knowledgeC) symbolizes their social systemD) varies from culture to culture22. The expression, "to cut the cord", is used to show that _____.A) children dont like their parentsB) parents dont feel close to their childrenC) parents would not like to live together with their childrenD) independence from ones family is an important personal goal in USA23. Children who are "tied to the apron strings" _____.A) are caught in their mothers apronsB) must always wear an apron when they eatC) are very dependent on their mothersD) are independent from their parents24. American people often let their children work for money outside the home at a very early age because _____.A) children have to earn money to help the familyB) they need more moneyC) they want them to begin establishing autonomyD) children have to save money for future use25. It can be inferred from this passage that _____.A) Americans are money loversB) Americans admire independenceC) Americans are good at decision-makingD) Americans are all responsible大学英语四级阅读习题(二)Long after the 1998 World Cup was won, disappointed fans were still cursing the disputed refereeing (裁判) decisions that denied victory to their team. A researcher was appointed to study the performance of some top referees.The researcher organized an experimental tournament (锦标赛) involving four youth teams. Each match lasted an hour, divided into three periods of 20 minutes during which different referees were in charge.Observers noted down the referees errors, of which there were 61 over the tournament. Converted to a standard match of 90 minutes, each referee made almost 23 mistakes, a remarkably high number.The researcher then studied the videotapes to analyse the matches in detail. Surprisingly, he found that errors were more likely when the referees were close to the incident. When the officials got it right, they were, on average, 17 meters away from the action. The average distance in the case of errors was 12 meters. The research shows the optimum (最佳的) distance is about 20 meters.There also seemed to be an optimum speed. Correct decisions came when the referees were moving at a speed of about 2 meters per second. The average speed for errors was 4 meters per second.If FIFA, footballs international ruling body, wants to improve the standard of refereeing at the next World Cup, it should encourage referees to keep their eyes on the action from a distance, rather than rushing to keep up with the ball, the researcher argues.He also says that FIFAs insistence that referees should retire at age 45 may be misguided. If keeping up with the action is not so important, their physical condition is less critical.21. The experiment conducted by the researcher was meant to ________.A) review the decisions of referees at the 1998 World CupB) analyse the causes of errors made by football refereesC) set a standard for football refereeingD) reexamine the rules for football refereeing22. The number of refereeing errors in the experimental matches was ________.A) slightly above averageB) higher than in the 1998 World CupC) quite unexpectedD) as high as in a standard match23. The findings of the experiment show that ________.A) errors are more likely when a referee keeps close to the ballB) the farther the referee is from the incident, the fewer the errorsC) the more slowly the referee runs, the more likely will errors occurD) errors are less likely when a referee stays in one spot24. The word “officials” (Line 2, Para. 4) most probably refers to ________.A) the researchers involved in the experimentB) the inspectors of the football tournamentC) the referees of the football tournamentD) the observers at the site of the experiment25. What is one of the possible conclusions of the experiment?A) The ideal retirement age for an experienced football referee is45.B) Age should not be the chief consideration in choosing a football referee.C) A football referee should be as young and energetic as possible.D) An experienced football referee can do well even when in poor physical condition.。
英语四级阅读理解练习题附答案解析
英语四级阅读理解练习题附答案解析导读：我根据大家的需要整理了一份关于《英语四级阅读理解练习题附答案解析》的内容，具体内容：英语阅读在英语四级考试中一直占有相当大的比重，因而加强英语阅读的练习尤为重要。
下面我为大家带来英语四级阅读理解练习题解析，欢迎考生阅读练习。
英语四级阅读理解练习题(一)...英语阅读在英语四级考试中一直占有相当大的比重，因而加强英语阅读的练习尤为重要。
下面我为大家带来英语四级阅读理解练习题解析，欢迎考生阅读练习。
英语四级阅读理解练习题(一)Not all sounds made by animals serve as language, and we have only to turn to thatextraordinary discovery of echolocation (回声定位) in bats to see a case in which the voice playsa strictly practical role.To get a full appreciation of what this means we must turn first to some recent humaninventions. Everyoneknows that if he shouts near a wall or a mountainside, an echo will comeback. The further off this solid obstacle, the longer time it will take for the return of the echo.A sound made by tapping on the main body of a ship will be reflected from the sea bottom, andby measuring the time interval between the taps andthe receipt ofthe echoes the depth ofthe sea at that point can be calculated. So was born the echo-sounding equipment, now ingeneral use in ships. Every solid object will reflect a sound, varying according to the size andnature of the object. A shoal of fish will do this. So it is a comparatively simple stepfromlocating the sea bottom to locating a shoal of fish. With experience, and with improvedequipment, it is now possible not only to locate fish but to tell if it is herring, cod, orotherwell-known fish, by the pattern of its echo.A few years ago it was found that certain bats emit squeaks (吱吱声) and by receiving heechoes they could locate and steer clear of obstacles--or locate flying insects on which theyfeed. This echolocation in bats is often compared with radar, the principle of which is similar.练习题：Choose correct answers to the question:1.The main purpose of this passage is to ______.A. describe that animals can make different soundsB. prove that animals voices can play practical rolesC. inspire the readers to make more inventionsD. startle the readers with some shocking facts2. The discovery of echolocation may help with all of thefollowing EXCEPTA. measuring the depth of the seaB. distinguishing different kinds of fishC. improving the functions of radarD. varying the size and nature of an object3. By saying "A shoal of fish will do this"(Lines 6-7, Para.2), the author means________.A. only one special kind of fish can reflect soundsB. only one special kind of fish can be used to help locate a shipC. a large group of fish can reflect soundsD. a large group of fish can be used to help locate a ship4. As it is discussed in the passage, the squeaks of bats can be functionally comparedwith ________.A. human languagesB. a mountainsideC. a shoal of fishD. taps on a ship5. Which of the following statements can be inferred from the passage?A. Animals are more intelligent than humans.B. Humans are more intelligent than animals.C. Animals are often compared with human inventions.D. Humans are often inspired by animals.英语四级阅读理解练习题答案1.[B] 主旨大意题。
大学英语四级阅读理解练习题和答案解析
大学英语四级阅读理解练习题和答案解析大学英语四级阅读理解练习题：【原文】The Earth comprises three principal layers: the dense, iron-rich core, the mantle made of silicate (硅酸盐) that are semi-molten at depth, and the thin, solid-surface crust There are two kinds of crust, a lower and denser oceanic crust and an upper，lighter continental crust found over only about 40 percent of the Earths surface. The rocks of the crust are of very different ages. Some continental rocks are over 3,000 million years old, while those of the ocean floor are less than 200 million years old. The crusts and the top, solid part of the mantle, totaling about 70 to 100 kilometers in thickness, at present appear to consist of about 15 rigid plates, 7 of which are very large. These plates move over the semi-molten lower mantleto produce all of the major topographical(地形学的)features of the Earth. Active zones where intense deformation occur are confined to the narrow, interconnecting boundaries of contact of the plates.There are three main types of zones of contact: spreading contacts where plates move apart, converging contacts where plates move towards each other, and transform contacts where plates slide past each other. Newoceanic crust is formed along one or more margins of each plate by material issuing from deeper layers of the Earth s crust, for example, by volcanic eruptions (爆发) of lava (火山熔岩) at mid-ocean ridges. If at such a spreading contact the two plates support continents，a rift(裂缝) is formed that will gradually widen and become flooded by the tea. The Atlantic Ocean formed like this as the American and Afro-European plates moved in opposite directions. When two plates carrying continents collide, the continental blocks,too light to be drawn down, continue to float and therefore buckle (起褶皱) to form a mountain chain along the length of the margin of the plates.大学英语四级阅读理解练习题：【题目】Choose correct answers to the question:1.The Earths crust______.A.can be classified into two typesB.is formed along the margins of the platesC.consists of semi-molten rocksD.is about 70 to 100 kilometers thick2.The 15 plates of the Earth are formed from ___.A.the oceanic crusts and continental crustsB.the crusts and the mantleC.the crusts and the top and solid part of the mantleD.the continental crusts and the solid part of the mantle3.Seriously-deformed zones appear _______A.whenever the crusts move over mantleB.when the plates move towards each otherC.in the narrow boundaries where two plates meetD.to be the major topographical feature of the Earth4.According to the second paragraph, the formation of the Atlantic Ocean is the example of_______.A.spreading contactsB.the influence of volcanic eruptionsC.converging contactsD.transform contacts5.This passage is probably_______.A.a newspaper advertisementB.a chapter of a novelC.an excerpt from a textbookD.a scientific report of new findings大学英语四级阅读理解练习题：【答案】1.[A] 事实细节题。
英语四级长篇阅读真题练习
英语四级长篇阅读真题练习阅读理解历来都是大学英语四级考试中的重心,也是考生们失分比较多的一个题型,所以大有得阅读者得天下这一说。
接下来就一起分享小编为大家整理的英语四级长篇阅读真题练习吧!英语四级长篇阅读真题练习一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.A Grassroots RemedyA) Most of us spend our lives seeking the natural world. To this end, we walk the dog, play golf, go fishing, sit in the garden, drink outside rather than inside the pub, have a picnic, live in the suburbs, go to the seaside, buy a weekend place in the country. The most popular leisure activity in Britain is going for a walk. And when joggers (慢跑者) jog, they don't run the streets. Every one of the minstinctively heads to the park or the river. It is my profound belief that not only do we all need nature, butwe all seek nature, whether we know we are doing so or not.B) But despite this, our children are growing up nature-deprived ( 丧失) , I spent my boyhood climbing trees on Stratham Common, south London. These days, children are robbed of these an cientfreedoms, due to problems like crime, traffic, the loss of the open spaces and odd new perceptions about what is best for children, that is to say, things that can be bought, rather than things that can be found.C) The truth is to be found elsewhere. A study in the U.S. families had moved to better housing and the children were assessed for ADHD -- attention deficit hyperactivity disorder ( 多动症) .Those whose accommodation had more natural views showed an improvement of 19%; those who had the same improvement in material surroundings but no nice view improved just 4%.D) A study in Sweden indicated that kindergarten children who could play in a natural environment had less illness and greater physical ability than children used only to a normal playground. A U.S. study suggested that when a school gave children access to a natural environment, academic levels were raised across the entire school.E) Another study found that children play differently in a natural environment. In playgrounds, children create a hierarchy (等级) based on physical abilities, with the tough ones taking the lead. But when a grassy area was planted with bushes, the children got much more into fantasyplay, and the social hierarchy was now based on imagination and creativity.F) Most bullying (持枪凌弱) is found in schools where there is a tarmac (柏油碎石) play ground; the least bullying is in a natural area that the children are encouraged to explore. This reminds mean pleasantly of Sunny hill School in Stratham, with its harsh tarmac, where I used to hang about incomers fantasizing about wildlife. The children are frequently discouraged from involvement with natural spaces, for health and safety reasons, for fear that they might get dirty or that they might cause damage. So, instead, the damage is done to the children themselves: not to their bodies but to their souls.G) One of the great problems of modem childhood is ADHD, now increasingly and expensively treated with drugs. Yet one study after another indicates that contact with nature gives huge benefits to ADHD children. However, we spend money on drugs rather than on green places.H) The life of old people is measurably better when they have access to nature. The increasing emphasis for the growing population of old people is in quality rather than quantity of years. And study after study finds that a garden is the single most important thing in finding that quality.I) In wider and more difficult areas of life, there is evidence to indicate that natural surroundingsim prove all kinds of things. Even problems withcrime and aggressive behavior are reduced when there is contact with the natural world. Dr. William Bird, researcher from the Royal Society for the Protection of birds, states in his study, “A natural environment can reduce violent behavior because its restorative process helps reduce anger and impulsive behavior." Wild places need encouraging for this reason, no matter how small their contribution.J) We tend to look on nature conservation as some kind of favor that human beings are granting to the natural world. The error here is far too deep: not only do humans need nature for themselves, but the very idea that humanity and the natural world are separable things is profoundly damaging. Human beings are a species of mammals (哺乳动物) . For seven million years they lived on the planet as part of nature. Our ancestral selves miss the natural world and long for contact with nonhuman life. Anyone who has patted a dog, stoked a cat, sat under a tree with a pint of beer, given or received a bunch of flowers or chosen to walk through the park on a nice day, understands that. We need the wild world. It is essential to our well-being, our health, our happiness. Without the wild world we are not more but less civilized. Without other living things around us we are less than human.K) Five Ways to Find Harmony with the Natural World Walk: Break the rhythm of permanently being under a roof. Get off a stop earlier, make a circuit of the park at lunchtime, walk the child to and from school, get adog, feel yourself moving in moving air, look, listen, absorb.Sit: Take a moment, every now and then, to be still in an open space. In the garden, anywhere that's not in the office, anywhere out of the house, away from the routine. Sit under a tree, look at water, feel refreshed, ever so slightly renewed.Drink: The best way to enjoy the natural world is by oneself; the second best way is in company. Take a drink outside with a good person, a good gathering: talk with the sun and the wind with bird-song for background.Learn: Expand your boundaries. Leam five species of bird, five butterflies, five trees, five bird songs. That way, you see and hear more: and your mind responds gratefully to the greater amount of wildness in your life.Travel: The places you always wanted to visit: by the seaside, in the country, in the hills. Take a week-end break, a day-trip, get out these and do it: for the scenery, for the way through the woods, for the birds, for the bees. Go somewhere special and bring specialness home. It lasts forever, after all.46. The study in Sweden shows that more access to nature makes children less likely to fall ill.47. The author's profound belief is that people instinctively seek nature in different ways.48. It can be very helpful to provide more green spaces for children with ADHD.49. Elderly people will enjoy a life of better quality when they contact more with nature.50. Nowadays, people think things that can be bought are best for children, rather than things that can be found.51. Dr. William Bird suggests in his study that access to nature contributes to the reduction of violence.52. According to a study in the U. S. Children with ADHD whose accommodation had more natural views showed much better improvement.53. Children who have chances to explore natural areas are less likely to be involved in bullying.54. We can find harmony with the natural world in various ways, among which there are walking,sitting, drinking, learning and traveling.55. It is extremely harmful to think that humanity and the natural world can be separated.英语四级长篇阅读真题练习答案解析Section B大自然疗法A)我们中的大多数人都套花时间寻求与大自然亲近。
大学英语四级真题阅读练习10套(附参考答案)
大学英语4级真题Passage 1The endless debate about “work-life balance’’ often contains a hopeful footnote about stay-at-home dads. If American society and business won5t make it easier on future female leaders who choose to have children, there is still the ray of hope that increasing numbers of full-time fathers will. But based on today’s socioeconomic trends, this hope is, unfortunately, misguided.It’s true that the number of men who have left work to do their thing as full-time parents has doubled in a decade, but ifs still very small：only 0. 8% of married couples where the stay-at-home father was out of the labor force for a year. Even that percentage is likely inflated by men thrust into their caretaker role by a downsizing. This is simply not a large enough group to reduce the social stigma(污名)and force other adjustments necessary to supporting men in this decision, even if only for a relatively short time.Even shorter times away from work for working fathers are already difficult. A study found that 85% of new fathers take some time off after the birth of a child—but for all but a few, it’s a week or two at most. Meanwhile, the average for women who take leave is more than 10 weeks. Such choices impact who moves up in the organization. While you’re away, someone else is doing your work, making your sales, taking care of your customers. That can’t help you at work. It can only hurt you. Women, of course, face the same issues of returning after a long absence. But with many more women than men choosing to leave the workforce entirely to raise families, returning from an extended parental leave doesn’t raise as many eyebrows as it does for men.Women would make more if they didn't break their earning trajectory (轨迹）by leaving the workforce, or if higher-paying professions were more family-friendly. In the foreseeable future, stay- at-home fathers may make all the difference for individual families, but their presence won’t reduce the numbers of high-potential women who are forced to choose between family and career.56.What gives women a ray of hope to achieve work-life balance?A)More men taking an extended parental leave.B)Peopled changing attitudes towards family.C)More women entering business management.D)The improvement of their socioeconomic status.57.Why does the author say the hope for more full-time fathers is misguided?A)Women are better at taking care of children.B)Many men value work more than their family.C)Their number is too small to make a difference.D)Not many men have the chance to stay at home.58.Why do few men take a long parental leave?A)A long leave will have a negative impact on their career.B)They just have too many responsibilities to fulfill at work.C)The economic loss will be too much for their family to bear.D)They are likely to get fired if absent from work for too long.59.What is the most likely reaction to men returning from an extended parental leave?A) Jealousy. C) Admiration. B) Surprise.D) Sympathy.60.What does the author say about high-potential women in the not-too-distant future?A)They will benefit from the trend of more fathers staying at home.B)They will find high-paying professions a bit more family-friendly.C)They are unlikely to break their career trajectory to raise a family.D)They will still face the difficult choice between career and children.答案：BCABDPassage 2Some of the world’s most significant problems never hit headlines. One example comes from agriculture. Food riots and hunger make news. But the trend lying behind these matters is rarely talked about. This is the decline in the growth in yields of some of the world’s major crops. A new study by the University of Minnesota and McGill University in Montreal looks at where, and how far, this decline is occurring.The authors take a vast number of data points for the four most important crops :rice, wheat, com and soyabeans (大豆).They find that on between 24% and 39% of all harvested areas, the improvement in yields that took place before the 1980s slowed down in the 1990s and 2000s. There are two worrying features of the slowdown. One is that it has been particularly sharp in the world’s most(人口多的）countries, India and China. Their ability to feed themselves has been an important source of relative stability both within the countries and on world food markets. That self-sufficiency cannot be taken for granted if yields continue to slow down or reverse.Second, yield growth has been lower in wheat and rice than in com and soyabeans. This is problematic because wheat and rice are more important as foods, accounting for around half of all calories consumed. Com and soyabeans are more important as feed grains. The authors note that “we have preferentially focused our crop improvement efforts on feeding animals and cars rather than on crops that feed people and are the basis of food security in much of the world. ”, The report qualifies the more optimistic findings of another new paper which suggests that the world will not have to dig up a lot more land for farming in order to feed 9 billion people in 2050, as the Food and Agriculture Organisation has argued.Instead, it says, thanks to slowing population growth, land currently ploughed up for crops might be able to revert (回返）to forest or wilderness. This could happen. The trouble is that the forecast assumes continued improvements in yields, which may not actually happen.61.What does the author try to draw attention to?A) Food riots and hunger in the world.C) The decline of the grain yield growth.B) News headlines in the leading media.D) The food supply in populous countries.62.Why does the author mention India and China in particular?A)Their self-sufficiency is vital to the stability of world food markets.B)Their food yields have begun to decrease sharply in recent years.C)Their big populations are causing worldwide concerns.D)Their food self-sufficiency has been taken for granted.63.What does the new study by the two universities say about recent crop improvement efforts?A)They fail to produce the same remarkable results as before the 1980s.B)They contribute a lot to the improvement of human food production.C)They play a major role in guaranteeing the food security of the world.D)They focus more on the increase of animal feed than human food grains.64.What does the Food and Agriculture Organisation say about world food production in thecoming decades?A)The growing population will greatly increase the pressure on world food supplies.B)The optimistic prediction about food production should be viewed with caution.C)The "slowdown of the growth in yields of major food crops will be reversed.D)The world will be able to feed its population without increasing farmland.65.How does the author view the argument of the Food and Agriculture Organisation?A)It is built on the findings of a new study.B)It is based on a doubtful assumption.C)It is backed by strong evidence.D)It is open to further discussion.答案：CADDBPassage 3Junk food is everywhere. We’re eating way too much of it. Most of us know what we’re doing and yet we do it anyway.So here’s a suggestion offered by two researchers at the Rand Corporation : Why not take a lesson from alcohol control policies and apply them to where food is sold and how it’s displayed?“Many policy measures to control obesity(肥胖症）assume that people consciously and rationally choose what and how much they eat and therefore focus on providing information and more access to healthier foods,” note the two researchers.“In contrast,” the researchers continue, “ many regulations that don’t assume people make rational choices have been successfully applied to control alcohol, a substance—like food—of which immoderate consumption leads to serious health problems. ’’The research references studies of peopled behavior with food and alcohol and results of alcohol restrictions, and then lists five regulations that the researchers think might be promising if applied to junk foods. Among them:Density restrictions：licenses to sell alcohol aren’t handed out unplanned to all comers but are allotted (分配) based on the number of places in an area that already sell alcohol. These make alcohol less easy to get and reduce the number of psychological cues to drink.Similarly, the researchers say, being presented with junk food stimulates our desire to eat it. So why not limit the density of food outlets, particularly ones that sell food rich in empty calories? And why not limit sale of food in places that aren5t primarily food stores?Display and sales restrictions: California has a rule prohibiting alcohol displays near the cash registers in gas stations, and in most places you can’t buy alcohol at drive-through facilities. At supermarkets, food companies pay to have their wares in places where they’re easily seen. One could remove junk food to the back of the store and ban them from the shelves at checkout lines. The other measures include restricting portion sizes, taxing and prohibiting special price deals for junk foods, and placing warning labels on the products.56.What does the author say about junk food?A)People should be educated not to eat too much.B)It is widely consumed despite its ill reputation.C)Its temptation is too strong for people to resist.D)It causes more harm than is generally realized.57.What do the Rand researchers think of many of the policy measures to control obesity?A) They should be implemented effectively.C) They are based on wrong assumptions.B) They provide misleading information.D) They help people make rational choices.58.Why do policymakers of alcohol control place density restrictions?A)Few people are able to resist alcohol’s temptations.B)There are already too many stores selling alcohol.C)Drinking strong alcohol can cause social problems.D)Easy access leads to customers’ over-consumption.59.What is the purpose of California’s rule about alcohol display in gas stations?A)To effectively limit the density of alcohol outlets.B)To help drivers to give up the habit of drinking.C)To prevent possible traffic jams in nearby areas.D)To get alcohol out of drivers’ immediate sight.60.What is the general guideline the Rand researchers suggest about junk food control?A)Guiding people to make rational choices about food.B)Enhancing people’s awareness of their own health.C)Borrowing ideas from alcohol control measures.D)Resorting to economic, legal and psychological means.答案：CCDDCPassage 4Kodak’s decision to file for bankruptcy (破产）protection is a sad, though not unexpected, turning point for a leading American corporation that pioneered consumer photography and dominated the film market for decades, but ultimately failed to adapt to the digital revolution.Although many attribute Kodak’s downfall to “complacency ( 自满)”that explanation doesn’t acknowledge the lengths to which the company went to reinvent itself. Decades ago, Kodak anticipated that digital photography would overtake film—and in fact, Kodak invented the first digital camera in 1975—but in a fateful decision, the company chose to shelf its new discovery to focus on its traditional film business.It wasn’t that Kodak was blind to the future, said Rebecca Henderson, a professor at Harvard Business School, but rather that it failed to execute on a strategy to confront it. By the time the company realized its mistake, it was too late.Kodak is an example of a firm that was very much aware that they had to adapt, and spent a lot of money trying to do so, but ultimately failed. Large companies have a difficult time switching to new markets because there is a temptation to put existing assets into the new businesses.Although Kodak anticipated the inevitable rise of digital photography, its corporate(企业的）culture was too rooted in the successes of the past for it to make the clean break necessary to fully embrace the future. They were a company stuck in time. Their history was so important to them. Now their history has become a liability.Kodak’s downfall over the last several decades was dramatic. In 1976, the company commanded 90% of the market for photographic film and 85% of the market for cameras. But the 1980s brought new competition from Japanese film company Fuji Photo, which undermined Kodak by offering lower prices for film and photo supplies. Kodak’s decision not to pursue the role of official film for the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics was a major miscalculation. The bid went instead to Fuji, which exploited its sponsorship to win a permanent foothold in the marketplace.61.What do we learn about Kodak?A)It went bankrupt all of a sudden.B)It is approaching its downfall.C)It initiated the digital revolution in the film industry.D)It is playing the dominant role in the film market.62.Why does the author mention Kodak’s invention of the first digital camera?A)To show its early attempt to reinvent itself.B)To show its effort to overcome complacency.C)To show its quick adaptation to the digital revolution.D)To show its will to compete with Japan’s Fuji Photo.63.Why do large companies have difficulty switching to new markets?A)They find it costly to give up their existing assets.B)They tend to be slow in confronting new challenges.C)They are unwilling to invest in new technology.D)They are deeply stuck in their glorious past.64.What does the author say Kodak’s history has become?A) A burden.B) A mirror.C) A joke.D) A challenge.65.What was Kodak’s fatal mistake?A) Its blind faith in traditional photography.C) Its refusal to sponsor the 1984 Olympics.B) Its failure to see Fuji Photo’s emergence.D) Its overconfidence in its corporate culture.答案：BADACPassage 5When 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 researchersargue that it challenges a widespread characteristic of the economy: work organized by dock time. While most people will still probably need, and be, to some extent, clock-timers, task-based timing should be used when perfoming a job that requires more creativity. It’ll make those tasks easier, arid 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 clocks timers?A) They seize opportunities as they come up.C) They have more control over their lives.B) They always get their work done in time.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 workers5 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.答案：CADAAPassage 6Martha Stewart was charged, tried and competed of a crime in 2004. As she neared the end of her prison sentence, a well-known columnist wrote that she was “ paying her dues,” and that “ there is simply no reason for anyone to attempt to deny her right to start anew.”Surely, the American ideal of second chances should not be reserved only for the rich and powerful. Unfortunately, many federal and state laws impose post-conviction restrictions on a shockingly large number of Americans, who are prevented from ever fully paying their debt to society.At least 65 million people in the United States have a criminal record. This can result in severe penalties that continue long after punishment is completed.Many of these penalties are imposed regardless of the seriousness of the offense or the person’s individual circumstances. Laws can restrict or ban voting, access to public housing, and professional and business licensing. They can affect a person’s ability to get a job and qualification for benefits.In all, more than 45, 000 laws and rules serve to exclude vast numbers of people from fullyparticipating 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.61.What does the well-known columnist’s remark about Martha Stewart suggest?A)Her past record might stand in her way to a new life.B)Her business went bankrupt while she was in prison.C)Her release from prison has drawn little attention.D)Her prison sentence might have been extended.62.What do we learn from the second paragraph about many criminals in America?A)They backslide after serving their terms in prison.B)They are deprived of chances to turn over a new leaf.C)They receive severe penalties for committing minor offenses.D)They are convicted regardless of their individual circumstances.63.What are the consequences for many Americans with a criminal record?A) They remain poor for the rest of their lives.C) They are marginalized in society.B) They are deprived of all social benefits.D) They are deserted by their family.64.What does the author think of the post-conviction laws and rules?A)They help to maintain social stability.B)Some of them have long been outdated.C)They are hardly understood by the public.D)A lot of them have negative effects on society.65.What is the author’s main purpose in writing the passage?A)To create opportunities for criminals to reform themselves.B)To appeal for changes in America’s criminal justice system.C)To ensure that people with a criminal record live a decent life.D)To call people’s attention to prisoners’ conditions in America.答案：ABCDBPassage 7The 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 upthe 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 or an iPad. The rounded edges, cool glass，smooth and unknowable as a pebble (鹅卵石）. Instead of digging through pieces of paper and peering into comers, 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 modem stores?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 modem 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 against technological progress.C)He feels reluctant to part with the traditional wallet.D)He feels insecure in the ever-changing modem world.答案：ABDADPassage 8Everybody 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 a.m.、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）. 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?61.What does the author say about peopled sleeping habits?A) They are culture-related.C) They change with the seasons.B) They affect peopled health.D) They vary from person to person.62.What do we learn about the Russians regarding sleep?A)They don’t fall asleep until very late.C)They get less sleep on public holidays.B)They don’t sleep much on weekends.D)They sleep longer than people elsewhere.63.What is the major cause for Europeans’ loss of sleep?A)The daylight savings time.C)The World Cup.B)The colorful night life.D)The summertime.64.What is the most probable reason for some rich people to use a device to record their sleep patterns?A) They have trouble falling asleep.C) They are involved in a sleep research.B) They want to get sufficient sleep.D) They want to go to bed on regular hours.65.What does .the author imply in the last paragraph?A)Sleeplessness does harm to peopled 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.答案：ACCBBPassage 9Could you reproduce Silicon Valley elsewhere, or is there something unique about it?It wouldn't be surprising if it were hard to reproduce in other countries, because you couldn't reproduce it in most of the US either. What does it take to make a Silicon Valley?It's the right people. If you could get the right ten thousand people to move from Silicon Valley to Buffalo, Buffalo would become Silicon Valley.You only need two kinds of people to create a technology hub (中心) : rich people and nerds (痴迷科研的人).Observation bears this out. Within the US, towns have become star, up hubs if and only if they have both rich people and nerds. Few startups happen in Miami, for example, because although it's full of rich people, it has few nerds. It's not the kind of place nerds like.Whereas Pittsburgh has the opposite problem: plenty of nerds, but no rich people.The top US Computer Science departments are said to be MIT, Stanford, Berkeley, and Carnegie-Mellon. MIT yielded Route 128.Stanford and Berkeley yielded Silicon Valley. But what did Carnegie-Mellon yield in Pittsburgh? And what happened in Ithaca, home of Cornell University, which is also high on the list?I grew up in Pittsburgh and went to college at Cornell, so I can answer for both. The weather is terrible, particularly in winter, and there's no interesting old city to make up for it, as there is in Boston. Rich people don't want to live in Pittsburgh or Ithaca. So while there're plenty of hackers (电脑迷) who could start startups, there's no one to invest in themDo you really need the rich people? Wouldn't it work to have the government invest in the nerds?No, it would not. Start up investors are a distinct type of rich people. They tend to have a lot of experience themselves in the technology business. This helps them pick the right startups, and means they can supply advice and connections as well as money. And the fact that they have a personal stake in the outcome makes them really pay attention.56.What do we learn about Silicon Valley from the passage?A. Its success is hard to copy anywhere else.B. It is the biggest technology hub in the US.C. Its fame in high technology is incomparable.D. It leads the world in information technology.57.What makes Miami unfit to produce a Silicon Valley?A. Lack of incentive for investment.B. Lack of the right kind of talents.C. Lack of government support.D. Lack of famous universities.58.In what way is Carnegie-Mellon different from Stanford, Berkeley and MIT?A. Its location is not as attractive to rich people.B. Its science departments are not nearly as good.C. It does not produce computer hackers and nerds.D. It does not pay much attention to business startups.59.What does the author imply about Boston?A. It has pleasant weather all year round.。
大学四级英语考试阅读习题及答案
大学四级英语考试阅读习题及答案导读：我根据大家的需要整理了一份关于《大学四级英语考试阅读习题及答案》的内容，具体内容：阅读理解在英语四级考试中中占有相当大分值，因此需要考生重视英语阅读能力的提升。
下面我为大家带来大学四级英语考试阅读习题，供考生阅读练习。
大学四级英语考试阅读习题(一)T...阅读理解在英语四级考试中中占有相当大分值，因此需要考生重视英语阅读能力的提升。
下面我为大家带来大学四级英语考试阅读习题，供考生阅读练习。
大学四级英语考试阅读习题(一)The motor vehicle has killed and disabled more people in its brief history than any bomb or weapon ever invented. Much of the blood on the street flows essentially from uncivil behavior of drivers who refuse to respect the legal and moral rights of others. So the massacre on the road may be regarded as a social problem.In fact, the enemies of society on wheels are rather harmless people or ordinary people acting carelessly, you might say. But it is a principle both of law and common morality that carelessness is no excuse when ones actions could bring death or damage to others.A minority of the killers go even beyond carelessness to total negligence.Researchers have estimated that as many as 80 per cent of allautomobile accidents can be attributed to the psychological condition of the driver. Emotional upsets can distort drivers reactions, slow their judgment, and blind them to dangers that might otherwise be evident. The experts warn that it is vital for every driver to make a conscious effort to keep ones emotions under control.Yet the irresponsibility that accounts for much of the problem is not confined to drivers. Street walkers regularly violate traffic regulations; they are at fault in most vehicle walker accidents. And many cyclists even believe that they are not subject to the basic rules of the road.Significant legal advances have been made towards safer driving in the past few years. Safety standards for vehicle have been raised both at the point of manufacture and through periodicroad-worthiness inspections. In addition, speed limits have been lowered. Due to these measures, the accident rate has decreased. But the accident experts still worry because there has been little or no improvement in the way drivers behave. The only real and lasting solution, say the experts, is to convince people that driving is a skilled task requiring constant care and concentration. Those who fail to do all these things pose a threat to those with whom they share the road.62. The word "massacre" in line 3 paragraph one means _____A) mass-killing.B) disaster.C) tragedy.D) accident.63. What is the authors main purpose in writing the passage?A) To show that the motor vehicle is a very dangerous invention.B) To promote understanding between careless drivers and street walkers.C) To discuss traffic problems and propose possible solutions.D) To warn drivers of the importance of safe driving.64. According to the passage, traffic accidents may be regarded as a social problem because _____.A) autos have become most destructive to mankindB) people usually pay little attention to law and moralityC) civilization brings much harm to peopleD) the lack of virtue is becoming more severe65. Why does the author mention the psychological condition of the driver in Paragraph Three?A) To give an example of the various reasons for road accidents.B) To show how important it is for drivers to be emotionally healthy.C) To show some of the inaccurate estimations by researchers.D) To illustrate the hidden tensions in the course of driving.66. Who are NOT mentioned as being responsible for the road accidents?A) Careless bicycle-riders.B) Mindless people walking in the street.C) Irresponsible drivers.D) Irresponsible manufactures of automobiles.大学四级英语考试阅读习题答案ACBBD大学四级英语考试阅读习题(二)Merchant and passenger ships are generally required to have a life preserver for every person aboard and in many cases, a certain percentage of smaller sizes for children. According to United States requirements, life preservers must design, reversible capable of being quickly adjusted to fit the uninitiated individual, and must be so designed as to support the wearer in the water in an upright or slightly backward position.Sufficient buoyancy(浮力) to support the wearer should be retained by the life preserver after 48 hours in the water, and it should be reliable even after long period of storage. Thus it should be made of materials resistant to sunlight, gasoline, and oils, andit should be not easily set on fire.?The position in which the life preserver will support a person who jumps or falls into the water is most important, as is its tendency to turn the wearer in the water from a face-down position to an upright or slightly backward position, with his face clear of the water, even when the wearer is exhausted or unconscious.The method of adjustment to the body should be simple, andself-evident to uninitiated persons even in the dark under the confused conditions, which follow a disaster. Thus, the life be reversible that it is nearly impossible to get it on wrong. Catches, straps, and ties should be kept to a minimum. In addition, the life preserver must be adjustable to the wide variety of shapes and sizes of wearers, since this greatly affects the position of floating and the self-righting qualities. A suitable life also be comfortable to wear at all times, in and out of the water, not so heavy as to encourage to take it off on shipboard while the ship is in danger, nor so burdensome that it hinders a person in the water while trying to swim.1. The passage is mainly about____.A) the uses of life preserversB) the design of life preserversC) the materials for life preserversD) the buoyancy of life preservers2. According to the passage, a life be first of all ____.A) adjustable B) comfortable C) self-evident D) self-righting3. United States Coast Guard does NOT require the life preserver to be made ____.A) with as few strings as possibleB) capable of being worn on both sidesC) according to each wearers sizeD) comfortable and light to wear4. By "the uninitiated individual" (Para. 1, Line. 4) the author refers to the person ____.A) who has not been instructed how to use a life preserverB) who has a little experience in using a life preserverC) who uses a life preserver without permissionD) who becomes nervous before a disaster5. What would happen if a person were supported by the life preserver in a wrong position?A) The waves would move him backwards.B) The water would choke him.C) He would immediately sink to the bottom.D) He would be exhausted or unconscious.大学四级英语考试阅读习题答案1. B。
英语四级考试阅读理解练习题附答案解析
英语四级考试阅读理解练习题附答案解析导读：我根据大家的需要整理了一份关于《英语四级考试阅读理解练习题附答案解析》的内容，具体内容：离英语四级考试越来越近，考生想要提高阅读技巧就要多做英语阅读练习。
下面我为大家带来英语四级考试阅读理解练习题，供各位考生阅读练习。
英语四级考试阅读理解练习题(一)Peo...离英语四级考试越来越近，考生想要提高阅读技巧就要多做英语阅读练习。
下面我为大家带来英语四级考试阅读理解练习题，供各位考生阅读练习。
英语四级考试阅读理解练习题(一)People become quite illogical when they try to decide what can be eaten and what cannot beeaten. If you lived in the Mediterranean, for instance, you would consider octopus a greatdelicacy. You would not be able to understand why some people find it repulsive. On theother hand, your stomach would turn at the idea of frying potatoes in animal fat -- the normallyaccepted practice in many northern countries. The sad truth is that most of us have beenbrought up to eat certain foods and we stick to them all our lives.No creature has received more praise and abuse than the common garden snail. Cooked inwine, snails are a great luxury in variousparts of the world. There are countless people who,ever since their early years, have learned to associate snails with food. My friend, Robert, livesin a country where snails are despised. As his flat is in a large town, he has no garden of hisown. For years he has been asking me to collectsnails from my garden and take them to him.The idea never appealed to me very much, but one day, after heavy shower, I happened to bewalking in my garden when I noticed a huge number of snails taking a stroll on some of myprize plants. Acting on a sudden impulse, I collected several dozen, put them in a paperbag,and took them to Robert. Robert was delighted to see me and equally pleased with my littlegift. I left the bag in the hall and Robert and I went into the living room where we talked for acouple of hours. I had forgotten all about the snails when Robert suddenly said that I must stayto dinner. Snails would, of course, be the main dish. I did not fancy the idea and I reluctantlyfollowed Robert out of the room. To our dismay, we saw that there were snailshad escaped from the paper bag and had taken complete possession of the hall!I havenever been able to look at a snail since then.练习题：Choose correct answers to the question:1.The underlined word "repulsive" in Paragraph 1 most probably means"_____".A.disgustingB. pleasantC. acceptableD. delicious2.We can infer from Paragraph 3 that when collecting the snails, the author____ .A.was glad that he could share them with his friendB.was angry because they might damage his beloved plantsC.was excited about being able to give his friend a surpriseD.was depressed because it was hard to catch them all3.The author finds that snails _______ .A. are as delicious as octopusB. are disliked in his hometownC.are the most controversial foodD. are as popular as fried potatoes4.The best title for the passage might be "______"?A.One Mans Meat is Another Mans PoisonB.Foods and CulturesC.Snail and OctopusD.People Are Illogical in Front of Delicacies5.As indicated in the passage,people love different foods mainly because____A.they live in different places.B.they learn to eat certain foods in their familiesC.they have different understanding of delicacyD.they are too illogical to explain英语四级考试阅读理解练习题答案1.[A] 词义推断题。
四级阅读理解练习
四级阅读理解练习(1)Americans believe no one stands still. If you are not moving ahead, you are fall ing behind. This attitude results in a nation of people committed to researching, e xperimenting and exploring. Time is one of the two elements that Americans save carefully, the other being labor."We are slaves to nothing but the clock,” it has been said. Time is treated as if it were something almost tangible. We budget it, save it, waste it, steal it,kill it, cu t it, account for it; we also charge for it. It is a precious commodity. Many people have a rather acute shortness of each lifetime. Once the sands have run out of a p erson’s hourglass, they cannot be replaced. We want every minute to count.A foreigner’s first impression of the U.S. is likely to be that everyone is in a ru sh-often under pressure. City people appear always to be hurry to get where they are going, restlessly seeking attention in a store, elbowing others as they try to co mplete their errands. Racing through daytime meals is part of the pace of life in t his country. Working time is considered precious. Others in public eating places are waiting for you to finish so they too can be served and get back to work withi n the time allowed. Each person hurries to make room for the next person. If you don’t, waiter will hurry you.You also find drivers will be abrupt and that people will push past you. You will miss smiles, brief conversations, small courtesies wit h strangers. Don’t take it personally. This is because people value time highly, an d they resent someone else “wasting” it beyond a certain courtesy pointThis view of time affects the importance we attach to patience. In the America n system of values, patience is not a high priority. Many of us have what might b e called “a short fuse.” We begin to move restlessly about if we feel time is slippin g away without some return-be this in terms of pleasure, work value, or rest. Tho se coming from lands where time is looked upon differently may find this matter of pace to be one of their most difficult adjustments in both business and day life.Many newcomers to the States will miss the opening courtesies of a business call, for example. They will miss the ritual socializing that goes with a welcoming cup of tea or coffee that may be traditional in their own country. They may miss leisurely business chats in a cafe or coffee house. Normally, Americans do not ass ess their visitors in such relaxed surroundings over prolonged small talk; much le ss do they take them out for dinner, or around on the golf course while they devel op a sense of trust and report. Rapport to most of us is less important than perfo rmance. We seek out evidence of past performance rather than evaluate a busine ss colleague through social courtesies. Since we generally assess and probe profes sionally rather than socially, we start talking business very quickly.Most Americans live according to time segments laid out in engagement calend ars. We often give a person two or three (or more) segments of our calendar, but i n business world we almost always have other appointments following hard on th e heels of whatever we are doing. Time is therefore always ticking in our inner ea r.As a result we work hard at the task of saving time. We produce a steady flowof laborsaving devices; we communicate rapidly through telexes phone calls or m emos rather than through personal contacts, which though pleasant, take longer especially given our trafficfilled streets. We therefore save most personal visiting for after work hours or for social weekend gatherings.1."If you are not moving ahead, you are falling behind."(Para.1,Line1) means __A) if you are moving, you are falling downB) you would fall behind if you move aheadC) you are moving ahead or you are f alling behindD) you are not moving, you are disappear2.The second paragraph implies ____. A) everyone’s life has his regretsB) everybody has his defaultC) lifetime is not long for everyoneD) lifetime is full of pities3.In the American system of value, patience is not a high priority indicates ____.A) patience is very importantB) patience is high valuablC) patience is not of valueD) patience is ranked after others4.“We begin to move restlessly about if we feel time is slipping away without so me return...”, this sentence reflects Americans’ attitude to life ____A) is not patient enoughB) gets angry easilyC) saves timesD) values time5. Is the article to____?A) narrateB) tell storyC) informD) argue答案与解析： 1.C理解题。
英语四级阅读积累练习题及答案
英语四级阅读积累练习题及答案英语四级阅读积累练习题一：The University of California was chartered in 1868 and established at Berkeley in 1875. South Hall, an ivy-covered Gothic-revival building of red brick, is the only survivor of the nineteenth century campus buildings. Today, the Berkeley campus is the senior member of the nine-campus University of California System. Berkeley offers a full range of academic majors in programs. In a national survey published in fall 1992, Berkeley placed highest of all public universities in ranking that included five attributes: reputation, selectivity, faculty resources, financial resources, and student satisfaction. More students who earn bachelors degrees at Berkeley complete Ph. Ds than graduates of any other university in the country.Undergraduate students can choose from more than 5,000 different courses and over 100 majors or they can design their own individual majors. The graduate division offers professional and academic degrees in more than 100 majors. Aiding students in their course work is a campus network of twenty-four libraries, including one especially for undergraduates. There are also many support facilities and services available, such as the Student Learning Center,financial aid counseling, housing assistance, graduate and professional school advising, and career placement assistance. The 1, 200-acre campus stretches from downtown Berkeley through wooded hillsthat overlook San Francisco Bay. The city of Berkeley (population 105,000) offers the lively background of one of Americas more culturally diverse and politically adventurous small cities. The surrounding San Francisco Bay area provides an abundance of recreational and cultural events.26. In Paragraph One, the author mainly states about______.A. the greatness and wonderfulness of the Berkeley campusB. the Berkeley campus ranking in all the public universitiesC. the history and the present situation of the Berkeley campusD. the overall impression of the Berkeley campus27. More students have graduated from Berkeley than from any other university in gaining ______degree.A. MBAsB. bachelorsC. Ph. DsD. masters28. From the essay, we can know that______.A. the Berkeley campus is the University of CaliforniaB. the Berkeley campus is only an old branch of the University of CaliforniaC. the Berkeley campus is an absolutely independent university, which is built in CaliforniaD. the Berkeley campus is an independent college.29. Which is TRUE according to the essay?A. Now the Berkeley campus is the best public university.B. You can finish bachelors courses or Ph. Ds courses but not masters courses.C. The Berkeley campus does not do well in helping students in their studies.D. The Berkeley campus is not far away from the city of San Francisco.30. The city of Berkeley is______.A. situated within the Berkeley campusB. found to be a melting pot of various culturesC. a recreational placeD. trying to increase its population26. C 27. C 28. B 29. D 30. B英语四级阅读积累练习题二：The Laws of NatureThe phrase "A law of Nature" is probably rarer in modern scientific writing than was the case some generations ago. This is partly due to a very natural objection to the use of the word "law" in two different senses. Human societies have laws. In primitive societies there is no distinction between law and custom. Some things are done, others are not. This is regarded as part of the nature of things, and generally as an unalterable fact. If customs change, the change is too slow to be observed. Later on kings and prophets could promulgate new laws, but there was no way ofrevoking old ones. The Greek democracies made the great and revolutionary discovery that a community could consciously make new laws and repeal old ones. So for us a human law is something which is valid only over a certain number of people for a certain period of time.Laws of Nature, however, are not commands but statements of facts. The use of the same word is unfortunate. It would be better to speak of uniformities of Nature. This would do away with the elementary fallacy that a law implies a law-giver. Incidentally, it might just as well imply a parliament or soviet of atoms. But the difference between the two uses of the word is fundamental. If a piece of matter does not obey a law of Nature it is not punished. On the contrary, we say that the law has been incorrectly stated, It is quite probable that every law of Nature so far stated has been stated incorrectly. Certainly many of them have. Nevertheless, these inaccurately stated laws are of immense practical and theoretical value.They fall into two classes-qualitative laws such as "All animals with feathers have beaks", and quantitative laws such as "Mercury has 13,596 times the density of water"(at 0C and 1 atmospheres pressure). The first of these is a very good guide. But it was probably not true in the past. For many birds which were certainly feathered had teeth and may not have had beaks. And it is quite possibly not today. There are about a hundred thousand million birds on our planet, and it may well be that two or three of them are freaks which have not developed a beak. But have lived long enough to grow feathers. It was thought to be a law of Nature that female mammals (defined as warm-blooded vertebrates with hair) had mammary glands, until Prof. Crew of Edinburgh found that many congenitallyhairless female mice lacked these organs, though they could bear young which other females could then foster.And quantitative laws generally turn out to be inexact. Thus water is nothing definite. It is a mixture of at least six different substances. For in the molecule H20, one or both of the hydrogen atoms may be either light or heavy, and so may the oxygen atom. Similarly, mercury consists of several different types of atom. Thus the ratio of the densities of mercury and water is not fixed, though in the case of ordinary samples the variation is too small to be detected. But it can be detected if the water happens to have been taken from an accumulator which has been used for some time.In his theory of Probability (Oxford, 1939) Jefferys has something new to say about induction. Two contradictory theories are in vogue as to the laws of Nature. The older view is that they are absolute, though of course they may have been inaccurately formulated. The extreme positivistic view, enunciated by Vaihinger, is that we can only say that phenomena occur as if certain laws held. There is no sense in making any definite statements, though it is convenient to do so.Now Jeffreys points out that, if a number of observations have been found to conform to a law, it is highly probable that the next one will do so whether the law is true or not. In Jeffreys words "A well-verified hypothesis will probably continue to lead to correct inferences even if it is wrong. "Positivists and idealists have made great play with the fact that many laws of Nature, as formulated by scientists, have turned out to be inexact, and all may do so. But that is absolutely no reason for saying that thereare no regularities in Nature to which our statements of natural law correspond. One might as well say that because no maps of England give its shape exactly it has no shape.What is remarkable about the laws of Nature is the accuracy of simple approximations. One might see a hundred thousand men before finding an exception to the rule that all men have two ears, and the same is true for many of the laws of physics. In some cases we can see why. The universes is organized in aggregates, with, in many cases, pretty wide gaps between them. Boyles law that the density of a gas is proportional to its pressure, and Charles law that the volume is proportional to the temperature, would be exact if gas molecules were points which had no volume and did not attract one another. These laws are very nearly true for gases at ordinary temperatures and pressures, because the molecules occupy only a small part of the space containing the gas, and are close enough to attract one another only during a very small part of any interval of time. Similarly, most of the stars are far enough apart to be treated as points without much error when we are considering their movements.And most men manage to protect themselves from injury so far as is needed to keep both ears. Whereas trees cannot protect themselves form the loss of branches. It is very rare to see a completely unmutilated, and therefore completely regular tree. Mendels laws, according to which two types occur in a ratio of 1： 1 in some cases and 3 ： 1 in others, are theoretically true if the processes of division of cell nuclei are quite regular, and if neither type is unfit so as to die off before counts are made. The first condition never holds, and the second probably never does. But the exceptions to the first condition are very rare. In one particular case a critical division goes wrong about one in ten thousandtimes. The effect of this on a 1 : 1 ratio or 3 ! 1 ratio could be detected only by counting several hundred million plants or animals. Differences in relative fitness are more important. But even so the Mendelian ratios are sometimes fulfilled with extreme accuracy, and are generally a good rough guide.Jeffreys points out that in such cases it is often much better to stick to the theoretical law rather than the observed data. For example, if you are breeding silver foxes and a new colour variety occurs which, if crossed to the normal, gives 13 normal and 10 of the new colour, you are much more likely to get a ratio of about 1:1 than 13:10 if you go on with such matting, even though if you breed many thousands the 1: 1 ratio will not hold exactly. The mathematical theory which Jeffreys has developed concerning such cases is particularly beautiful, but can hardly be summarized here.1. Ordinarily, gas molecules are so close that they attract one another for only a very short time.2. The statement that atoms in the molecule H2O may be light or heavy is a sample of quantitative laws.3. Human law is similar to natural law in essence.4. Charles law and Boyles law are based on observations made at ordinary temperatures and pressures.5. Since cell-division is sometimes irregular and certain types die off early, we sometimes get neither 3 ： 1 ratio nor 1 : 1 ratio.6. Differences in relative fitness are more frequent than irregular cell-division.7. We must see many human beings before stating the rule that all men have 2 ears.8. Compared with human laws, laws of nature are accurate because they are expressed in the form of_______.9. In considering the movements of stars, scientists need not consider their_______.10. _______laws can serve as good guides.I. Y 2. Y 3. N 4. N 5. Y 6. NG 7. N 8. approximation 9. distance 10. Qualitative。
英语四级阅读理解精选练习及参考答案
英语四级阅读理解精选练习及参考答案四级阅读理解精选练习一：Trees should only be pruned when there is a good and clear reason for doing so and , fortunately,the number of such reasons is small. Pruning involves the cutting away of obergrown and unwanted branches, and the inexperienced gardener can be encouraged by the thought that more damage results from doing it unnecessarily than from leaving the tree to grow in its own way.First, pruning may be done to make sure that trees have a desired shape or size. The object may be to get a tree of the right height, and at the same time to help the growth of small side branches which will thicken its appearance or give it a special shape. Secondly, pruning may be done to make the tree healthier. You may cut diseaed or dead wood, or branches that are rubbing against each other and thus cause wounds. The health of a tree may be encouraged by removing branches that are blocking up the centre and so preventing the free movement of air.One result of pruning is that an open wound is left on the tree and this provides an easy entry for disease, but itis a wound that will heal. Often there is a race between the healing and the desease as to whether the tree will live or die, so that there is a period when the tree is at risk. It should be the aim of every gardener to reduce which has been pruned smooth and clean, for healing will be slowed down by roughness. You should allow the cut surface to dry for a few hurs and then paint it with oneof the substances available from garden shops produced especially for this purpose. Pruning is usually without interference from the leaves and also it is very unlikely that the cuts yu make will bleed. If this does happen,it is, of course,impossible to paint them properly.1.Pruning should be done to ______.a.make the tree grow tallerb.improve the shape of the treec.get rid of the small branchesd.make the small branches thicker2.Trees become unhealthy if the gardener ______.a.allows too many branches to grow in the middleb.does not protect them from windc.forces them to grow too quicklyd.damages some of the small side branches3.Why is a special substance painted on the tree?a.To make a wound smoothb.To prevent disease entering a woundc.To cover a rough surfaced.To help a wound to dry4.A good gardener prunes a tree______.a.at intervals throughout the yearb.as quickly as possiblec.occasionally when necessaryd.regular every winter5.What was the authors purpose when writing this passage?a.To give pratical instruction for pruning a tree.b.To give a general description of pruningc.To explain how trees develop diseasesd.To discuss different methods of pruning.答案：babca四级阅读理解精选练习二：On Thursday afternoon Mrs. Carke, dressed for going out, took her handbag with her money and her key in it, pulled the door behind her to lock it and went to the over 60s Club. She always went there on Thursdays. It was a nice outing for an old woman who lived alone.At six oclock she cane home, let herself in and at once smelt cigarette smoke. Cigarette smoke in her house? How? How? Had someone got in? She checked the back door and the windows. All were locked or fastened, as usual. There was no sign of forced entry.Over a cup of tea she wondered whether someone might have a key that fitted her front door-"a master key"perhaps. So she stayed at home the following Thursday. Nothing happened. Was anyone watching her movements?On the Thursday after that she went out at her usual time,dressed as usual, but she didnt go to the club. Instead she took a short cut home again, letting herself in through her garden and the back door. She settled down to wait.It was just after four oclock when the front door bell rang.Mrs. Clarke was making a cup of tea at the time. The bell rang again, and then she heard her letter-box being pushed open. With the kettle of boiling water in her hand, she moved quietly towards the front door. A long piece of wire appeared through the letter-box, and then a hand. The wire turned and caught around the knob on the door-lock. Mrs. Clarke raised the kettle and poured the water over the hand. There was a shout outside, and the skin seemed to drop off the fingers like a glove. The wire fell to the floor, the hand was pulled back, and Mrs. Clarke heard the sound of running feet.1.Mrs. Clarke looded forward to Thursday because_______.a.she worked at a club on the dayb.she said visitors on Thursdaysc.she visited a club on Thursdayd.a special visitor came on Thursday2.If someone had made a forced entery,_______.a.Mrs.Clarke would have found a broken door or windowb.he or she was still in the housec.things would have been thown aboutd.he or she would have needed a master key3.On the third Thursday Mrs. Clarke went out_______.a.because she didnt want to miss the club againb.to see if the thief was hnging about outsidec.to the club but then changed her mindd.in an attempt to trick the thief4.The lock on the front door was one which_______.a.needed a piece of wire to open itb.could he opened from inside without a keyc.couldt be opened without a keyed a knob instead of a key5.The wire feel to the floor_______.a.because Mrs.Clarke refused to open the doorb.when the mans glove dropped offc.because it was too hot to holdd.because the man justwanted to get away答案：cadbd。
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There are two major parties in Britain today,the Conservative Party and the Labour Party,which have been in power by turns since 1945.The two—party system of Britain was formed in the course of the development of the capitalist state and the political parties.In order to strengthen the state machine,the British bourgeosie have let it come into being and exist in one form or another form since the 17th century.P.S.Tregidgo once said:“The more parties there are,the less likely it is that any one of them will be strong enough in Parliament to outvote all the others;but when there are only two,one of them is sure to have a majority o f seats.This helps to ensure a strong and stable government.”This may be the reason why the British have the two party system.The division into two parties grew out the establishment of a Protestant Church of England in the 16th century.Because of a purely religious difference of opinion,the Puritans were separated from the broad body of the Anglican Church.The non Puritan Anglicans were on the side of the King and Church,and their supporters were called by their opponents “Tories.”The Puritans were for Parliament and trade,and their supporters were called by the “Tories”“Whigs”.The Tories and the Whigs were in power a long time.In 1833,the Tory party split into two and its name was changed to Conservative.In the 1860s the Whigs became Liberals.From that time on,the Liberals and the Conservatives were in office by turns until 1922.The policies they put into effect were sometimes different,but they were both controlled by the rich.The working class became more and more unwilling to follow the Conservatives and the Liberals.They wanted to have their own party.So the Labour party was formed by the trade unions.After 1922 the Labour Party gradually replaced the Liberal Party to become one of the two major parties in Great Britain.1.What does “it” stand for in the third line?A)The two party system. B)The state machine.C)The Partiament. D)The capitalist state.2.We can learn from what P.S Tregidgo once said that ____.A)if there are parties in Britain,none of them will be strong enough to have con trol in the governmentB)the more patients there are,the more likely it is that they will have the deci sive say in the governmentC)the two party system contributes to the establishment of a powerful and long lasting governmentD)if there are only two parties in Britain,it will be easy for the government to control them3.What can we infer from the forming of the Tory Party and the Whig Party?A)These two parties originally believed in different religions.B)These two parties were established under the influence of different religious believes.C)The British King and the Parliament supported different religions becaused they were for the two party system.D)The British King and the Parliament were supported by different parties for political reasons.4.According to the passage,why was the Labour Party established in Britain?A)Because the trade unions did not do much good for the working people.B)Because the Liberal Party were not strong enough to defeat the Conservative Party.C)Because the working people would not like to be members outside the Liberal Party.D)Because neither of the two major parties was the parties for the working people.5.Which of the following is true concerning the Tory Party or the Whig Party?A)The Whig Party no longer exists in Britain.B)The Tory Party has kept its unity until the present day.C)The Whig Party has taken the place of the Liberal Party.D)The Tory Party has taken the place of the Conservative Party.答案与解析：1.A 本题要求读者指出第3行的“it”指代什么。
A为两党制，B为国家机器，C 为议会，D 为资本主义政府，从原文可知，资产阶级是为了强化国家机器，而让两党制形成并存在的。
故答案为A。
2.C 本题要求读者指出从P.S.特莱吉欧说的话中可得知什么。
A意思是：如果英国有政党的话，哪个党也不能控制政府。
B意思是：政党越多，他们就越有可能在政府中有决定性的发言权。
C意思是：两党制有利于建立一个有力的持久的政府。
D意思是：如果英国只有两个政党，政府会很容易控制他们。
从原文可知，A，B，D都不符合原文，故正确答案为C。
3.B 本题要求读者指出从托利党和辉格党的形成可得出什么推论。
A意思是：这两个党原来属于不同的宗教信仰。
B意思是：这两个党是受不同的宗教信仰影响而建立起来的。
C意思是：英国的国王和议会支持不同的宗教因为他们拥护两党制。
D意思是：英国的国王和议会由于政治上的原因受不同的党派的支持。
从原文可知，由于继宗教上的原因，英国国教分化为清教徒和非清教徒，这两支后来发展为辉格党和托利党。
所以正确答案为B。
4.D 本题要求读者指出英国工党是为什么建立的。
A意思是：因为工会没有为工人阶级谋多少利益。
B意思是：因为自由党对抗不过保守党。
C意思是：因为工人阶级不想成为自由党外的成员。
D意思是：因为当时的两大政党都不代表工人阶级利益。
从原文可知，工党的建立起因是工人阶级不愿受自由党和保守党的控制，且这两大党都是富人的党。
所以正确答案为D。
5.A 本题要求读者指出关于托利党和辉格党的正确叙述。
A意思是：在英国辉格党已经不存在了。
B意思是：直到今天托利党还保持着完整统一。
C意思是：辉格党取代了自由党。
D 意思是：托利党取代了保守党。
从原文可知，辉格党发展成后来的自由党，自由党又为工党取代。
所以正确答案为A。
CET-6Directions: In this part, you will have 15 minutes to go over the pas sage quickly and answer the questions on Answer sheet 1. For question s 1-4, markY (for YES) if the statement agrees with the information given in the passage;N (for NO) if the statement contradicts the information given in the passage;NG (for NOT GIVEN) if the information is not given in the passage.For questions 5-10, complete the sentences with the information given in the passage.April Fools’ Special: History’s HoaxesHappy April Fools’ Day. To mark the occasion, National Geographic Ne ws has compiled a list of some of the more memorable hoaxes in recent history. They are the lies, darned(可恨的) lies, and whoppers(弥天大谎)that have been perpetrated on the gullible(易受骗的)and unsuspecting to fulfill that age-old desire held by some to put the joke on others.Internet HoaxesThe Internet has given birth to a proliferation(增殖)of hoaxes. E-mail inboxes are bombarded on an almost daily basis with messages warning of terrible computer viruses that cause users to delete benign(良性)chunks of data from their hard drives, or of credit card scams that entice the naive to give all their personal information, including passwords and bank account details, to identity thieves. Other e-mails give rise to wry(歪曲的)chuckles, which is where this list begins.Ban Dihydrogen Monoxide(一氧化二氢)City officials in Aliso Viejo, California, were so concerned about the dangers of dihydrogen monoxide that they scheduled a vote last month on whether to ban foam(泡沫)cups from city-sponsored events after they learned the chemical was used in foam-cup production.Officials called off the vote after learning that dihydrogen monoxide is the scientific term for water."It’s embarrassing," city manager David J. Norman told the Associated Press. "We had a paralegal(律师助手)who did bad research."Indeed, the paralegal had fallen victim to an official-looking Website touting the dangers of dihydrogen monoxide. An e-mail originally authored in 1990 by Eric Lechner, then a graduate student at the University of California, Santa Cruz, claimed that dihydrogen monoxide "is used as an industrial solvent and coolant, and is used in the production of Styrofoam(聚苯乙烯泡沫塑料)."Other dangers pranksters(爱开玩笑的人)associated with the chemical included accelerated corrosion and rusting, severe burns, and death from inhalation.Versions of the e-mail continue to circulate today, and several Web sites, including that of the Coalition to Ban DHMO, warn, tongue-in-cheek, of water’s dangers.Alabama Changes Value of PiThe April 1998 newsletter put out by New Mexicans for science and Rea son contains an article titled "Alabama Legislature Lays Siege to Pi" . It was penned by April Holiday of the Associmated Press (sic) and t old the story of how the Alabama state legislature voted to change th e value of the mathematical constant Pi from 3.14159 to the round num ber of 3.The ersatz(假的)news story was written by Los Alamos National Laboratory physicist Mark Boslough to parody(滑稽地模仿)legislative and school board attacks on the teaching of evolution in New Mexico.At Boslough’s suggestion, Dave Thomas, the president of New Mexicans for science and Reason, posted the article in its entirety to the In ternet newsgroup Talk. Origins on April 1. (The newsgroup hosts a liv ely debate on creation vs. evolution.) Later that evening Thomas post ed a full confession to the hoax. He thought he had put all rumors to bed.But to Thomas’s surprise, however, several newsgroup readers forward ed the article to friends and posted it on other newsgroups.When Thomas checked in on the story a few weeks later, he was surpris ed to learn that it had spread like wildfire. The telltale signs of t he article’s satirical intent, such as the April 1 date and misspell ed "Associmated Press" dateline, had been replaced or deleted.Alabama legislators were bombarded with calls protesting the law. The legislators explained that the news was a hoax. There was not and ne ver had been such a law.TV and Newspaper HoaxesBefore the advent of the Internet, and even today, traditional media outlets such as newspapers, radio, and television, have sometimes hoa xed their audiences. The deceptions run the gamut from purported natu ral disasters to wishful news.Swiss Spaghetti (意大利式细面条) HarvestAlex Boese, curator of the Museum of Hoaxes, a regularly updated Web site that also appeared in book form in November 2002, said one of hi s favorite hoaxes remains one perpetrated by the British Broadcasting Company.On April 1, 1957, the BBC aired a report on the television news show Panorama about the bumper spaghetti harvest in southern Switzerland.Viewers watched Swiss farmers pull pasta off spaghetti trees as the s how’s anchor, Richard Dimbleby, attributed the bountiful harvest to the mild winter and the disappearance of the spaghetti weevil.The broadcaster detailed the ins and outs of the life of the spaghetti farmer and anticipated questions about how spaghetti grows on trees . Thousands of people believed the report and called the BBC to inqui re about growing their own spaghetti trees, to which the BBC replied, "Place a sprig of spaghetti in a tin of tomato sauce and hope for the best.""It was a great satirical effect about British society," Boese said. "British society really was like that at that time. The British havea tendency to be a bit insulated(绝缘的) and do not know that much about the rest of Europe."Taco Liberty BellOn April 1, 1996, readers in five major U.S. cities opened their news papers to learn from a full page announcement that the Taco Bell Corp oration had purchased the Liberty Bell from the U.S. government. The announcement reported that the company was relocating the historic bell from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Irvine, California. The move, the corporation said in the advertisement, was part of an "effort to help the national debt".Hundreds of other newspapers and television shows ran stories related to the press release on the matter put out by Taco Bell’s public re lations firm, PainePR. Outraged citizens called the Liberty Bell Nati onal Historic Park in Philadelphia to express their disgust. A few ho urs later the public relations firm released another press announceme nt stating that the stunt was a hoax.White House press secretary Mike McCurry got into the act when he rem arked that the government would also be "selling the Lincoln Memorial to Ford Motor Company and renaming it the Lincoln-Mercury Memorial".Crop CirclesStrange, circular formations began to appear in the fields of southern England in the mid-1970s, bringing busloads of curious onlookers, media representatives, and believers in the paranormal out to the countryside for a look.A sometimes vitriolic(讽刺的)debate on their origins has since ensued(跟着发生), and the curious formations have spread around the world, becoming more and more elaborate as the years go by.Some people consider the crop formations to be the greatest works of modern art to emerge from the 20th century, while others are convince d they are signs of extraterrestrial communications or landing sites of UFOs.The debate rages even today, although in 1991 Doug Bower and Dave Cho rley, two elderly men from Wiltshire County, came forward and claimed responsibility for the crop circles that appeared there over the pre ceding 20 years. The pair made the circles by pushing down nearly rip e crops with a wooden plank suspended from a rope.Moon Landing—a Hoax?Ever since NASA sent astronauts to the moon between 1969 and 1972, sk eptics have questioned whether the Apollo missions were real or simpl y a ploy to one-up(领先)the Soviet Union during the Cold War. The debate resurfaced and re ached crescendo levels in February 2001, when For television aired a program called Conspiracy Theory: Did We Land on the Moon?Guests on the show argued that NASA did not have the technology to la nd on the moon. Anxious to win the space race, NASA acted out the Apo llo program in movie studios, they said. The conspiracy theorists poi nted out that the pictures transmitted from the moon do not include s tars and that the flag the Americans planted on the moon is waving, e ven though there is though to be no breeze on the moon.NASA quickly refuted these claims in a series of press releases, stat ing that any photographer would know it is difficult to capture somet hing very bright and very dim on the same piece of film. Since the ph otographers wanted to capture the astronauts striding across the luna r surface in their sunlit space suits, the background stars were too faint to see.As for the flag, NASA said that the astronauts were turning it back and forth to get in firmly planted in the lunar soil, which made it wa ve.1. Some people have the age-old desire to put the joke on others.2. According to the passage, the only form of Internet hoaxes is e-ma il hoax.3. Dihydrogen monoxide is a very dangerous chemical, which is often u sed as an industrial solvent.4. Dihydrogen monoxide can accelerate corrosion and rusting, and cause sever burns and even death from inhalation.5. The reason why the ersatz news that Alabama changed the value of Pi spread wildly was that ________ forwarded the article to friends an d posted it on other newsgroups.6. Traditional media outlets such as ________ may still hoax their au diences nowadays.7. According to Boese, many people believed the report of Swiss spagh etti harvest because the British did not know ________.8. According to a hoax announcement, the Taco Bell Corporation bough the Liberty Bell and moved it to Irvine to help ________.9. The crop circles were thought to be the greatest works of modern a rt, the signs of ________ or landing sites of UFOs.10. Some people thought that NASA acted out the Apollo program in mov ie studios partially because the pictures transmitted from the moon d o not include ________.1. Y 根据题干中的信息词age-old desire定位到原文第一段，可知美国围家地理新闻整理了近期历史上让人印象深刻的恶作剧，这些谎言欺骗的是那些易受骗的、轻易信任他人的人，用以满足有些人想要捉弄他人的想法，故该句表述正确。