2015年12月英语四级听力真题及参考答案

2015年12月英语四级听力真题及参考答案Employers have the right to monitor their workers’ online private messages, according to a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). It comes after a Romanian man was fired for sending personal messages while at work. The Strasbourg court sided on Tuesday with the employer of a Romanian engineer who was dismissed from his job after using Yahoo Messenger to communicate with his fiancée while at work.

During his time as an engineer, Bogdan Barbulescu was asked by his employer to create a Yahoo Messenger account to answer his clients’ queries. However, he was informed in July that he had breached company rules by using the program for personal reasons, and was subsequently sacked. Barbulescu took his case against Romania to the human rights court later, alleging that his employer’s decision to [01:45.45]end his contract was based on a violation of his right to confidential correspondence.

1. What is legal for employers according to the ECHR?

2. What can we learn about Bogdan Barbulescu?

Questions 3 and 4 will be based on the following news item.

At the Sifa Primary School outside Nairobi, Kenya, students pay their tuition with a new, local currency called the pesa. The school is one of several institutions that accept the community currency. The currency is widely used by peoplein the Gatina Village. The pesas are equal in value to the Kenyan shilling and can be spent in the community just like cash. The new currency gives poor people more buying power than they would otherwise have. If members of the community have a shortage of the national currency, they can use the community currency to get access to the goods and services they may need. The non-profit group Grassroots Economics introduced the currency here last year. Community currency programs are being set up by non-profit organizations across the world. They help poor communities increase trade and create jobs, according to Grassroots Economics, based in Mombasa, Kenya. It does not replace but rather supplements the national currency system, reported the non-profit group. 3. What is the advantage of the pesa?

4. What can we learn about the Grassroots Economics?

Questions 5 to 7 will be based on the following news item.

Health officials in Brazil have declared a state of emergency in several states. They are also warning women not to get pregnant. These extreme actions are the result of a recent rise in birth defects. About 2 400 babies in Brazil were born recently with extremely small heads. The babies have a condition called microcephaly. Microcephaly causes severe brain damage. To date, 29 of these babies have died. The number of microcephaly cases in Brazil is about 10 times higher than what the country usually sees in a year.

The US Centers for Disease Control says the link between a virus infection

and microcephaly is being investigated. The virus is called Zika. Zika is spread by mosquitos. Some babies in Brazil with microcephaly have tested positive for the Zika virus while others have tested negative. [05:34.88]The CDC says that Brazil reported its first case of Zika virus in May 2015. Since then, the virus has spread and has caused infections in many Brazilian states and other countries in Latin America.

5. What situation is Brazil facing?

6. How many deaths have been reported so far?

7. What is related to the situation according to the CDC?

Section B

Directions: In this section,

Conversation One

W: Hi Leo, why do you say English would become the world language?

M: Well. For one thing, it’s so commonly used. The only language that is used by more people is Chinese.

W: Why is English spoken by so many people?

M: It’s spoken in many countries of the world because of the British Empire. And now of course, there is the influence of America as well.

W: Many students find English a difficult language to learn.

M: Oh, all languages are difficult to learn. But English does have two great advantages. W: What are they?