2016年12月四级考试真题(第一套)参考答案

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16年12月四级真题答案

【作文】第一套：Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write an essay. Suppose you have two options upon graduation. One is to find a job somewhere and the other to start a business of your own. You are to make a decision. Write an essay to explain the reasons for your decision. You should write at least 120 words but no more than 180 words.精彩范文In the past two years of my college life, I have never ceased to think what kind of work I shall take up upon graduation. Although my ideas are not consistent, I have now decided to start a business of my own as my lifelong career.A variety of factors have led me to make this decision over other more lucrative ones. To begin with, running my own business means freedom and independence. As a person having my own business, I am free to use my own ideas and make my own decisions, a privilege not everyone can have, even those with highly-paid positions. More importantly, I like starting my own business in that it offers a certain peace of mind. No more rushing to catch a morning bus, no more anxiety to please a boss, no more worries about your paycheck which is steady, if not handsome. Nothing, not even a big salary, can equal for the satisfaction of beingyour own boss and a gentle peace of life.参考译文在过去两年的大学生活中，我一刻也没有停止过思考：我大学毕业以后要干什么工作。

201612月大学英语四级第一套真题和答案解析

2016年12月大学英语四级试题(第一套)。

Part I Writing (30minutes) (请于正式开考后半小时内完成该部分，之后将进行听力考试) Directions : For this part，you are allowed 30 minutes to write an essay .Suppose you are two opti ons upon graduati on : one is to find a job somewhere and the other to start a busi ness of your own. You are to make a choice betwee n the two. Writean essay to expla in the reas ons for your choice. You should write at least 120words but no more tha n 180 words.Part II Liste ning Comprehe nsion ( 25 minutes)Sectio n ADirecti ons : In this sect ion ， you will hear three n ews reports. At the end of each news report ，you will hear two or three questions. Both the news report and the questions will be spoken only once. After you hear a question ，you must choose the best answer from the four choices marked A )，B)，C) . Then mark the corresp onding letter on the An swer sheet1 with a sin gle line through the cen tre.Questio ns 1and 2 are based on the n ews report you have just the heard.1. A) It was dan gerous to live in. C) He could no Ion ger pay the rent.B) It was going to be renovated. D) He had sold it to the royal family.2. A) A strike. B) A storm. C )A forest fire. D )A Terrorist5. A) Raise postage rates. C)B) Improve its services.6. A) Shorte ning bus in ess hours. Saturdays.B) Closing offices on holidays. Redesig n delivery routes.D) Close some of its post offices.C) Stopping mail deliveryD) Computerizing mail sortingonattack.Questi ons 3and 4 are based on the n ews report you have just heard.3. A) They lost con tact with the emerge ncy departme nt.B) They were trapped in an underground elevator.C) They were injured by suddenly falling rocks.D) They sent calls for help via a portable radio.4. A) They tried hard to repair the accident.B) They released the details of the accident.C) They sent supplies to keep the miners warm.D) They provided the miner with food and water.Questi on5 to7 are based on the n ews report you have just heard. processes.7. A) Many post office staff will lose their jobsB) Many people will beg in to complai nC) Taxpayers will be very pleasedD) A lot of controversy will ariseSect ion B8. A) He will be kept from promotion.B) He will go through retraining.9. A) He is always on time.operator.B) He is trustworthy guy. workmates.10. A) She is a trade union representative. shop.B) She is in charge of public relation. matters.11. A) He is skilled and experieneed. trouble.B) He is very close to the manager.C) He will be given a warning.D) He will lose part of his pay.C) He is an experieneed pressD) He is on good terms with hisC) She is a senior manager of theD) She is better at handing suchC) He is always trying to stir upD) Heis always complaining about lowDirections : In this section , you will hear two long conversations. At the endof each conversation , you will hear four questions. Both the conversation andthe questions will be spoken only once. After you hear a question , you must choose the best answer from four choice marked A ), B), C) and D ) .Then mark the corresponding letter an Answer sheet1 with a single line though the centre. Question8 to 11 are based on the conversation you have just heard.wages.Question12 to 15 are based on the conversation you have just heard.12. A) Open. B ) Friendly. C) Selfish. D) Reserved.13. A) They stay quiet. C) They talk about the weather2016年12月大英四（第一套）B) T hey read a book. D) They chat with fellow passengers.14. A) S he was always treated as a foreig ner.B) S he was eager to visit an En glish castle.C) S he was never invited to a colleague 's home.D) S he was unwilling to make friends with workmates.15. A) House are much more quiet. C) They want to have more space.B) Houses provide more privacy. D) They want a garden of their own. Sectio n CDirections : In this section , you will hear three passages. At the end of each passage, you will hear three or four questions. Both the passage and the questions will be spoken only once. After you hear a question , you must choose the best answer from the four choices marked A), B), C) and D .Then mark the corresponding letter on An swer Sheet 1 with a si ngle line through the cen tre.Questi ons 16 to 18 are based on the passage you have just heard.16. A) They don 't have much choice of jobs.B) They are likely to get much higher pay.C) They don 't have to go through job in terviews.D) They will automatically be given hiring priority.17. A) Ask their professors for help. C) Visit the school careers services.B) Look at school bullet in boards. D) Go through campus n ewspapers.18. A) Helping students find the books and journals they need.2016年12月大英四（第一套）B) Supervis ing study spaces to en sure a quiet atmosphere.C) Help ing stude nts arrange appo in tme nts with libraria ns.D) Providing students with information about the library.Questi ons 19 to 21 are based on the passage you have just heard.19. A) It tastes better. C) It may be sold at a higher price .B) It is easier to grow. D) It can better survive extreme weathers.20. A) It is healthier than green tea. C) It will replace green tea one day.B) It can grow in drier soil. D) It is immuneto various diseases.21. A) It has bee n well received by many tea drin kers.B) It does not bring the promised health ben efits.C) It has made tea farmers 'life easi er.D) It does not have a stable market.Questi ons 22 to 25 are based on the passage you have just heard.22. A) They n eed decorati ons to show their status.B) They prefer unique objects of high quality.C) They decorate their homes themselves.D) They care more about en vir onment.23. A) They were proud of their creati ons.B) They could only try to create at ni ght.C) They made great con tributi ons to society.。

2016年12月四级考试真题(第一套)参考答案

2016年12月四级考试真题参考答案作文话题一-简版You have two choices upon graduation：you can find a job somewhere or go to graduate school. State your choices and explain your reasons.【简析】毕业之际是找工作还是继续读研？答案：找工作当英语老师或读研当兼职英语老师，因为英语很重要，而且很多人学英语有困难，我相信自己会成为一个好的英语老师；如果写继续读研，那就是【考前五篇必备作文】中第三篇“教育回报”的翻版！范文1【找工作当英语老师】Suppose I have two options upon graduation: find a job somewhere or go to graduate school, I will hunt for a job as an English teacher.In the contemporary world, English learning has gained great popularity and it is of great significance for youngsters to learn English well.Based on a survey, a majority of international organizations or firms acknowledge that they prefer recruiting employees who can speak English fluently. However, a host of English learners may have a variety of difficulties or troubles in learning. For instance, a large number of students find it difficult to memorize new words. Frequently, it is also difficult for them to understand rules of English grammar. In addition, though some are good at reading or writing, they fail to express themselves freely in oral English.Then, how can I be an excellent English teacher? I am convinced that practice makes perfect. I deem that if I try my utmost to help them to practice English every day, the future of my students’ English learning will be promising and hopeful.【范文2：读研】Suppose I have two options upon graduation: find a job somewhere or go to graduate school, I will choose to further my study as a postgraduate.Obviously, my choice is naturally based on the importance of education: if I intend to acquire or get better earnings, it is advisable for me to gain higher degrees. In the contemporary China, it is a common phenomenon for a host of companies, corporations or organizations to recruit doctors and masters and pay them better salaries. Thus, I find it rather difficult to get better jobs with higher salaries, if I do not get better education. It is further education that enables me to build up adequate knowledge, skills and ability to deal with important tasks. As a matter of fact, employees and employers in large numbers have come to realize the significance of higher degrees.As a college student, I am convinced that it is of great necessity for all youngsters, including me, to enhance themselves by studying hard and getting better degrees. I will bear in mind: education is/means a worthy investment.作文话题二-简版You have two choices upon graduation: you can find a job a in state-owned company or you can go to ajoint-venture company. State your choices and explain your reasons.【简析】毕业之际进国企还是进外企？答：进外企，因为在外企工作英语很重要，我英语学的好有优势，而且外企带给我更多机会，唤起我对未来的热情，帮助我得到更好的收入；【范文】Provided that I have two choices upon graduation: find a job in a state-owned company or go to a joint-venture company, I will choose to work in a joint-venture corporation.In the contemporary China, it is a common phenomenon for a host of graduates to prefer working instate-owned companies, because they may find it quite comfortable and enjoyable to gain a stable salary. However, as a youngster, I am convinced that it is of great necessity for me to join in a joint-venture corporation. Firstly, it is my fluent English that enables me to communicate with colleagues from all over the world. Secondly, working in an international firm or organization will bring me more opportunities to see the world, arouse my enthusiasm for success and help me to gain higher salaries.As a matter of fact, I deem that suppose young people intend to achieve success in future, it is advisable for them to cultivate their awareness and habit of diligence, cooperation, communication, a strong will and leadership, no matter they work in a state-owned company or a joint-venture corporation. Do bear in mind: all successful people are alike.作文话题三-简版You have two choices upon graduation: you can find a job somewhere or start your own business. State your choices and explain your reasons.【简析】毕业之际找工作还是创业？答：创业，开办英语培训学校，英语很重要，但很多人学不好英语，我相信熟能生巧，能帮助大家学好英语！当然，找工作当英语老师也没问题呀【范文】Suppose I have two options upon graduation: find a job somewhere or start your own business, I will choose to create my own company—an English training school.In the contemporary world, English learning has gained great popularity and it is of great significance for youngsters to learn English well.Based on a survey, a majority of international organizations or firms acknowledge that they prefer recruiting employees who can speak English fluently. However, a host of English learners may have a variety of difficulties or troubles in learning. For instance, a large number of students find it difficult to memorize new words. Frequently, it is also difficult for them to understand rules of English grammar. In addition, though some are good at reading or writing, they fail to express themselves freely in oral English.Then, how can my training school help them to master English? I am convinced that practice makes perfect. In my training school, there will be various activities and foreign teachers, which bring them opportunities to practice English, arouse their enthusiasm for study and help them to make progress every day.翻译--考虫顶级写译名师石雷鹏权威撰写--翻译一-红色在中国红色代表着祝福、好运和长寿。

2016年度12月大学英语四级真命题及完全答案解析(共两卷)

2016年12月大学英语四级真题（第一套）Part I Writing (30minutes)Directions:For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write an essay. Suppose you have two options upon graduation: one is to take a job in a company and the other to go to a graduate school. You are to make a choice between the two. Write an essay to explain the reasons for your choice. You should write at least 120 words but no more than 180 words.Part II Listening Comprehension (25 minutes)Section ADirections: In this section, you will hear three news reports. At the end of each news report, you will hear two or three questions. Both the news report and the questions will be spoken only once. After you hear a question, you must choose the best answer from the four choices marked A), B), C) and D). Then mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 1 with a single line through the centre.Questions 1and 2 are based on the news report you have just theheard.1. A) It was going to be renovated. C) It was dangerous to live in.B) He could no longer pay the rent. D) He had sold it to the royal family.2. A) A storm. C) A forest fire.B) A strike. D) A Terrorist attack.Questions 3and 4 are based on the news report you have just heard.3. A) They lost contact with the emergency department.B) They were injured by suddenly falling rocks.C) They sent calls for help via a portable radio.D) They were trapped in an underground elevator.4. A) They provided the miner with food and water.B) They sent supplies to keep the miners warm.C) They released the details of the accident.D) They tried hard to repair the accident.Question5 to7 are based on the news report you have just heard.5. A) Raise postage rates. C) Close some of its post offices.B) Improve its services. D) Redesign delivery routes.6. A) Closing offices on holidays. C) Computerizing mail sorting processes.B) Shortening business hours. D) Stopping mail delivery on Saturdays.7.A）A lot of controversy will ariseB) Taxpayers will be very pleasedC) Many people will begin to complainD) Many post office staff will lose their jobsSection BDirections:In this section,you will hear two long conversations.At the end of eachconversation,you will hear four questions. Both the conversation and the questions will be spoken only once. After you hear a question, you must choose the best answer from four choice marked A),B),C) and D).Then mark the corresponding letter an Answer sheet1with a single line though the centre.Question8 to 11 are based on the conversation you have just heard.8.A)He will lose part of his pay. C)He will be given a warning.B)He will go through retraining. D)He is go good terms with his workmates.9.A)He is an experienced press operator. C)He is always on time.B)He is trustworthy guy. D）He is go good terms with his workmates.10.A)She is a trade union representative. C)She is better at handing such matters.B)She is a senior manager of the shop. D)She is in charge of public relation.11.A)He is always trying to stir up trouble.B)He is skilled and experienced.C)He is very close to the manager.D)He is always complaining about low wages.Question12 to 15 are based on the conversation you have just heard.12.A)Open. C)Selfish.B)Reserved. D)Friendly.13.A)They read a book. C)They stay quiet.B)They talk about the weather D)They chat with fellow passengers.14.A)She was unwilling to make friends with workmates.B)She was never invited to a colleague’s home.C)She was eager to visit an English castle.D)She was always treated as a foreigner.15.A) House are much more quiet. C) They want a garden of their own.B) They want to have more space. D) Houses provide more privacy.Section CDirections:In this section,you will hear three passages.At the end of each passage,you will hear three or four questions.Both the passage and the questions will be spoken only once.After you hear a question,you mustchoose the best answer from the four choices marked A),B),C) and D).Then mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 1 with a single line through the centre.Questions 16 to 18 are based on the passage you have just heard.16.A) They will automatically be given hiring priority.B) They don’t have to go through job interviews.C) They are likely to get much higher pay.D) They don’t have much choice of jobs.17.A) Visit the school careers services. C) Look at school bulletin boards.B) Ask their professors for help. D) Go through campus newspapers.18.A) Providing students with information about the library.B) Helping students arrange appointments with librarians.C) Supervising study spaces to ensure a quiet atmosphere.D) Helping students find the books and journals they need.Questions 19 to 21 are based on the passage you have just heard.19.A) It tastes better. C) It is easier to grow.B) It may be sold at a higher price. D) It can better survive extreme weathers.20.A) It can grow in drier soil. C) It will replace green tea one day.B) It is immune to various diseases. D) It is healthier than green tea.21.A) It does not have a stable market.B) It has made tea farmers’life easier.C) It does not bring the promised health benefits.D) It has been well received by many tea drinkers.Questions 22 to 25 are based on the passage you have just heard.22. A) They care more about environment.B) They decorate their homes themselves.C) They prefer unique objects of high quality.D) They need decorations to show their status.23. A) They made great contributions to society.B) They could only try to create at night.C) They were proud of their creations.D) They focused on the quality of their products.24. A) Identify fake crafts. C) Design handicrafts themselves.B) Make wise choices. D) Learn the importance of creation.25. A) To attract foreign investments. C) To arouse public interest in crafts.B) To preserve the traditional culture. D) To boost the local economy.Part III Reading Comprehension (40 minutes)Section ADirections:In this section, there is a passage with ten blanks. You are required to select one word for each blank from a list of choices given in a word bank following the passage. Read the passage through carefully before making your choices. Each choice in the bank is identified by aletter. Please mark the corresponding letter for each item on Answer Sheet 2 with a single line through the centre. You may not use any of the words in the bank more than once.Many men and women have long bought into the idea that there are “male”and “female”brains, believing that explains just about every difference between the sexes. A new study（26）that belief, questioning whether brains really can be distinguished by gender.In the study, Tel Aviv University researchers（27）for sex differences the entire human brain.And what did they find? Not much. Rather than offer evidence for （28）brains as “male”or “female,”research shows that brains fall into a wide range, with most people falling right in the middle.Daphna Joel, who led the study, said her research found that while there are some gender-based（29）, many different types of brain can’t always be distinguished by gender.While the “average”male and “average”female brains were（30）different, you couldn’t tell it by looking at individual brain scans. Only a small（31）of people had “all-male”or “all-female”characteristics.Larry Cahill, an American neuroscientist (神经科学家),said the study is an important addition to a growing body of research questioning（32）beliefs about gender and brain function. But he cautioned against concluding from this study that all brains are the same,（33）of gender.“There’s a mountain of evidence（34）the importance of sex influences at all levels of brain function,”he told The Seattle Times.If anything, he said, the study（35）that gender plays a very important role in the brain “even when we are not clear exactly how.”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.Can Burglars Jam Your Wireless Security System?[A]Any product that promises to protect your home deserves careful examination. So it isn’t surprising that you’ll find plenty of strong opinions about the potential vulnerabilities of popular home-security systems.[B]The most likely type of burglary (入室盗窃) by far is the unsophisticated crime of opportunity, usually involving a broken window or some forced entry. According to the FBI, crimes like these accounted roughly two-thirds of all household burglaries in the US in 2013.The wide majority of the rest were illegal, unforced entries that resulted from something like a window being left open. The odds of a criminal using technical means to bypass a security system are so small that the FBI doesn’t even track those statistics.[C]One of the main theoretical home-security concerns is whether or not a given system is vulnerable to being blocked from working altogether. With wired setups, the fear is that a burglar (入室盗贼) might be able to shut your system down simply by cutting the right cable. With a wireless setup, you stick battery-powered sensors up around your home that keep an eye on windows, doors, motion, and more. If they detect something wrong while the system is armed, they’ll transmit a wireless alert signal to a base station that will then raise the alarm. That approach will eliminate most cord-cutting concerns—but what abouttheir wireless equivalent, jamming? With the right device tuned to the right frequency, what’s to stop a thief from jamming your setup and blocking that alert signal from ever reaching the base station?[D]Jamming concerns are nothing new, and they’re not unique to security systems. Any device that’s built to receive a wireless signal at a specific frequency can be overwhelmed by a stronger signal coming in on the same frequency. For comparison, let’s say you wanted to “jam”a conversation between two people—all you’d need to do is yell in the listener’s ear.[E] Security devices are required to list the frequencies they broadcast on—that means that a potential thief can find what they need to know with minimal Googling. They will, however, need so know what system they’re looking for. If you have a sign in your yard declaring what setup you use, that’d point them in the right direction, though at that point, we’re talking about a highly targeted, semi-sophisticated attack, and not the sort forced-entry attack that makes up the majority of burglaries. It’s easier to find and acquire jamming equipment for some frequencies than it is for others.[F] Wireless security providers will often take steps to help combat the threat of jamming attacks. SimpliSafe, winner of our Editor’s Choice distinction, utilizes a special system that’s capable of separatingincidental RF interference from targeted jamming attacks. When the system thinks it’s being jammed, it’ll notify you via push alert(推送警报).From there, it’s up to you to sound the alarm manually.[G] SimpliSafe was singled out in one recent article on jamming, complete with a video showing the entire system being effectively bypassed with handheld jamming equipment. After taking appropriate measures to contain the RF interference to our test lab, we tested the attack out for ourselves, and were able to verify that it’s possible with the right equipment. However, we also verified that SimpliSafe’santi-jamming system works. It caught us in the act, sent an alert to my smartphone, and also listed our RF interference on the system’s event log. The team behind the article and video in question make no mention of the system, or whether or not in detected them.[H]We like the unique nature of that software. It means that a thief likely wouldn’t be able to Google how the system works, then figure out a way around it. Even if they could, SimpliSafe claims that its system is always evolving, and that it varies slightly from system to system, which means there wouldn’t be a universal magic formula for cracking it. Other systems also seem confident on the subject of jamming. The team at Frontpoint addresses the issue in a blog on its site, citing their own jam protection software and claiming that there aren’t any documentedcases of successful jam attack since the company began offering wireless security sensors in the 1980s.[I] Jamming attacks are absolutely possible. As said before, with the right equipment and the right know-how, it’s possible to jam any wireless transmission. But how probable is it that someone will successfully jam their way into your home and steal your stuff?[J] Let’s imagine that you live in a small home with a wireless security setup that offers a functional anti-jamming system. First, a thief is going to need to target your home, specifically. Then, he’s going to need to know the technical details of your system and acquire the specific equipment necessary for jamming your specific setup. Presumably, you keep your doors locked at night and while you’re away. So the thief will still need to break in. That means defeating the lock somehow, or breaking a window. He’ll need to be jamming you at this point, as a broken window or opened door would normally release the alarm. So, too, would the motion detectors in your home, so the thief will need to continue jamming once he’s inside and searching for things to steal. However, he’ll need to do so without tripping the anti-jamming system, the details of which he almost certainly does now have access to.[K]At the end of the day, these kinds of systems are primarily designed to protect against the sort of opportunistic smash-and-grabattack that makes up the majority of burglaries. They’re also only a single layer in what should ideally be a many-sided approach to securing your home, one that includes common sense things like sound locks and proper exterior lighting at night. No system is impenetrable, and none can promise to eliminate the worst case completely. Every one of them has vulnerabilities that a knowledgeable thief could theoretically exploit.A good system is one that keeps that worst-case setting as improbable as possible while also offering strong protection in the event of aless-extraordinary attack.36. It is possible for burglars to make jamming attacks with the necessaryequipment and skill.37. Interfering with a wireless security system is similar to interfering witha conversation.38. A burglar has to continuously jam the wireless security device toavoid triggering the alarm, both inside and outside the house.39. SimpliSafe provides devices that are able to distinguish incidentalradio interference from targeted jamming attacks.40. Only a very small proportion of burglaries are committed by technical means.41. It is difficult to crack SimpliSafe as its system keeps changing.42. Wireless devices will transmit signals so as to activate the alarm oncesomething wrong is detected.43. Different measures should be taken to protect one’s home fromburglary in addition to the wireless security system.44. SimpliSafe’s device can send a warning to the house owner’s cellphone.45. Burglars can easily get a security device’s frequency by Internet search.Section CDirections:There are 2 passages in this section. Each passage is followed by some questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A),B),C) and D).You should decide on the best choice and mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 2 with a single line through the centre.Passage OneQuestions 46 to 50 are based on the following passage.As a person who writes about food and drink for a living. I couldn’t tell you the first thing about Bill Perry or whether the beers he sells are thatgreat. But I can tell you that I like this guy. That’s because he plans to ban tipping in favor of paying his servers an actual living wage.I hate tipping.I hate it because it’s an obligation disguised as an option. I hate it for the post-dinner math it requires of me. But mostly, I hate tipping because I believe I would be in a better place if pay decisions regarding employees were simply left up to their employers, as is the custom in virtually every other industry.Most of you probably think that you hate tipping, too. Research suggests otherwise. You actually love tipping! You like to feel that you have a voice in how much money your server makes. No matter how the math works out, you persistently view restaurants with voluntary tipping systems as being a better value, which makes it extremely difficult for restaurants and bars to do away with the tipping system.One argument that you tend to hear a lot from the pro-tipping crowd seems logical enough: the service is better when waiters depend on tips, presumably because they see a benefit to successfully veiling their contempt for you. Well, if this were true, we would all be slipping a few 100-dollar bills to our doctors on the way out their doors, too. But as it turns out, waiters see only a tiny bump in tips when they do an exceptional job compared to a passable one. Waiters, keen observers ofhumanity that they are, are catching on to this; in one poll, a full 30% said they didn’t believe the job they did had any impact on the tips they received.So come on, folks: get on board with ditching the outdated tip system. Pay a little more upfront for your beer or burger. Support Bill Perry’s pub, and any other bar or restaurant that doesn’t ask you to do drunken math.46. What can we learn about Bill Perry from the passage?A) He runs a pub that serves excellent beer.B) He intends to get rid of the tipping practice.C) He gives his staff a considerable sum for tips.D) He lives comfortably without getting any tips.47. What is the main reason why the author hates tipping?A) It sets a bad example for other industries.B) It adds to the burden of ordinary customers.C) It forces the customer to compensate the waiter.D) It poses a great challenge for customers to do math.48. Why do many people love tipping according to the author?A) They help improve the quality of the restaurants they dine in.B) They believe waiters deserve such rewards for good service.C) They want to preserve a wonderful tradition of the industry.D) They can have some say in how much their servers earn.49. What have some waiters come to realize according to a survey?A) Service quality has little effect on tip size.B) It is in human mature to try to save on tips.C) Tips make it more difficult to please customers.D) Tips benefit the boss rather that the employees.50. What does the author argue for in the passage?A) Restaurants should calculate the tips for customers.B) Customers should pay more tips to help improve service.C) Waiters deserve better than just relying on tips for a living.D) Waiters should be paid by employers instead of customers. Passage TwoQuestions 51 to 55 are based on the following passage.In the past, falling oil prices have given a boost to the world economy, but recent forecasts for global growth have been toned down, even as oil prices sink lower and lower. Does that mean the link between lower oil prices and growth has weakened?Some experts say there are still good reasons to believe cheap oil should heat up the world economy. Consumers have more money in their pockets when they’re paying less at the pump. They spend that money on other things, which stimulates the economy.The biggest gains go to countries that import most of their oil like China, Japan, and India, But doesn’t the extra money in the pockets of those countries’consumers mean an equal loss in oil producing countries, cancelling out the gains? Not necessarily, says economic researcher Sara Johnson. “Many oil producers built up huge reserve funds when prices were high, so when prices fall they will draw on their reserves to support government spending and subsidies(补贴) for their consumers.”But not all oil producers have big reserves, In Venezuela, collapsing oil prices have sent its economy into free-fall.Economist Carl Weinberg believes the negative effects of plunging oil prices are overwhelming the positive effects of cheaper oil. The implication is a sharp decline in global trade, which has plunged partlybecause oil-producing nations can’t afford to import as much as they used to.Sara Johnson acknowledges that the global economic benefit from a fall in oil prices today is likely lower than it was in the past. One reason is that more countries are big oil producers now, so the nations suffering from the price drop account for a larger share of the global economy. Consumers, in the U.S. at least, are acting cautiously with the savings they’re getting at the gas pump, as the memory of the recent great recession is still fresh in their mind. And a number of oil-producing countries are trimming their gasoline subsidies and raising taxes, so the net savings for global consumers is not as big as the oil price plunge might suggest.51. What does the author mainly discuss in the passage?A) The reasons behind the plunge of oil prices.B) Possible ways to stimulate the global economy.C) The impact of cheap oil on global economic growth.D) The effect of falling oil prices on consumer spending.52. Why do some experts believe cheap oil will stimulate the global economy?A) Manufacturers can produce consumer goods at a much lower cost.B) Lower oil prices have always given a big boost to the global economy.C) Oil prices may rise or fall but economic laws are not subject to change.D) Consumers will spend their saving from cheap oil on other commodities.53. What happens in many oil-exporting countries when oil prices go down?A) They suspend import of necessities from overseas.B) They reduce production drastically to boost oil prices.C) They use their money reserves to back up consumption.D) They try to stop their economy from going into free-fall.54. How does Carl Weinberg view the current oil price plunge?A) It is one that has seen no parallel in economic history.B) Its negative effects more than cancel out its positive effects.C) It still has a chance to give rise to a boom in the global economy.D) Its effects on the global economy go against existing economic laws.55. Why haven’t falling oil prices boosted the global economy as they did before?A) People are not spending all the money they save on gas.B) The global economy is likely to undergo another recession.C) Oil importers account for a larger portion of the global economy.D) People the world over are afraid of a further plunge in oil prices.Part IV Translation (30minutes)Directions: For this part,you are allowed 30minutes to transtate a passage from Chinese into English.You should write your answer on Answer Sheet 2.在中国文化中，红色通常象征着好运、长寿和幸福，在春节和其他喜庆场合，红色到处可见。

2016年12月大学英语四级第一套真题附答案及听力材料

2016年12月大学英语四级第一套真题附答案及听力材料2016年12月四级真题（第一套）Part I WritingDirections: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write an essay. Suppose you have two options upon graduation: one is to find a job somewhere and the other to start a business of your own. You are to make a decision. Write an essay to explain the reasons for your decision. You should write at least 120 words but no more than 180 words.Part II Listening ComprehensionSection ADirections: In this section, you will hear three news reports. At the end of each news report, you will hear two or three questions. Both the news report and the questions will be spoken only once. After you hear a question, you must choose the best answer from the four choices marked A), B), C) and D). Then mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 1 with a single line through the centre.Questions 1 and 2 are based on the news report you have just heard.1.A) It was dangerous to live in.B) It was going to be renovated.C) He could no longer pay the rent.D) He had sold it to the royal family.2.A) A strike.B) A storm.C) A forest fire.D) A terrorist attack.Questions 3 and 4 are based on the news report you have just heard.A) They lost contact with the emergency department.B) They were trapped in an underground elevator.C) They were injured by suddenly falling rocks.D) They sent calls for help via a portable radio.4.A) They tried hard to repair the elevator.B) They released the details of the accident.C) They sent supplies to keep the miners warm.D) They provided the miners with food and water.Questions 5 to 7 are based on the news report you have just heard.5.A) Raise postage rates.B) Improve its services.C) Redesign delivery routes.D) Close some of its post offices.6.A) Shortening business hours.B) Closing offices on holidays.C) Stopping mail delivery on Saturdays.D) Computerizing mail sorting processes.7.A) Many post office staff will lose their jobs.B) Many people will begin to complain.C) Taxpayers will be very pleased.D) A lot of controversy will arise.Section BDirections: In this section, you will hear two long conversations. At the end of each conversation, you will hear four questions. Both the conversation and the questions will be spoken only once. After you hear a question, you must choose the best answer from the four choices marked A), B), C) and D). Then mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 1 with a single line through the centre.Questions 8 to 11 are based on the conversation you have just heard.8.A) He will be kept from promotion.B) He will go through retraining.C) He will be given a warning.D) He will lose part of his pay.9.A) He is always on time.B) He is a trustworthy guy.C) He is an experienced press operator.D) He is on good terms with his workmates.10.A) She is a trade union representative.B) She is in charge of public relations.C) She is a senior manager of the shop.D) She is better at handling such matters.11.A) He is skilled and experienced.B) He is very close to the manager.C) He is always trying to stir up trouble.D) He is always complaining about low wages.Questions 12 to 15 are based on the conversation you havejust heard.12.A) Open.B) Friendly.C) Selfish.D) Reserved.13.A) They stay quiet.B) They read a book.C) They talk about the weather.D) They chat with fellow passengers.14.A) She was always treated as a foreigner.B) She was eager to visit an English castle.C) She was never invited to a colleague's home.D) She was unwilling to make friends with workmates.15.A) Houses are much more quiet.B) Houses provide more privacy.C) They want to have more space.D) They want a garden of their own.Section CDirections: In this section, you will hear three passages. At the end of each passage, you will hear three or four questions. Both the passage and the questions will be spoken only once. After you hear a question, you must choose the best answer from the four choices marked A), B), C) and D). Then mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 1 with a single line through the centre.Questions 16 to 18 are based on the passage you have justheard.16.A) They don't have much choice of jobs.B) They are likely to get much higher pay.C) They don't have to go through job interviews.D) They will automatically be given hiring priority.A) Ask their professors for help.B) Look at school bulletin boards.C) Visit the school careers service.D) Go through campus newspapers.18.A) Helping students find the books and journals they need.B) Supervising study spaces to ensure a quiet atmosphere.C) Helping students arrange appointments with librarians.D) Providing students with information about the library.Questions 19 to 21 are based on the passage you have just heard.19.A) It tastes better.B) It is easier to grow.C) It may be sold at a higher price.D) It can better survive extreme weathers.20.A) It is healthier than green tea.B) It can grow in drier soil.C) It will replace green tea one day.D) It is immune to various diseases.21.A) It has been well received by many tea drinkers.B) It does not bring the promised health benefits.C) It has made tea farmers' life easier.D) It does not have a stable market.Questions 22 to 25 are based on the passage you have just heard.A) They need decorations to show their status.B) They prefer unique objects of high quality.C) They decorate their homes themselves.D) They care more about environment.23.A) They were proud of their creations.B) They could only try to create at night.C) They made great contributions to society.D) They focused on the quality of their products.24.A) Make wise choices.B) Identify fake crafts.C) Design handicrafts themselves.D) Learn the importance of creation.25.A) To boost the local economy.B) To attract foreign investments.C) To arouse public interest in crafts.D) To preserve the traditional culture.Part III Reading ComprehensionSection ADirections: In this section, there is a passage with ten blanks. You are required to select one word for each blank from a list of choices given in a word bank following the passage. Read the passage through carefully before making your choices. Each choice in the bank is identified by a letter. Please mark thecorresponding letter for each item on Answer Sheet 2 with a single line through the centre. You may not use any of the words in the bank more than once.When someone commits a criminal act, we always hope the punishment will match the offense. But when it comes to one of the cruelest crimes – animal fighting – things 26 work out that way. Dog-fighting victims are 27 and killed for profit and "sport," yet their criminal abusers often receive a28 sentence for causing a lifetime of pain. Roughly half of all federally-convicted animal fighters only get probation (缓刑).Some progress has been made in the prosecution (起诉) of animal fighters. But federal judges often rely heavily on the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines whenthey 29 penalties, and in the case of animal fighting, those guidelines are outdated and extremely 30 .The U.S. Sentencing Commission, which 31 these sentencing guidelines, is revisiting them, proposing to raise the minimum sentence from 6–12 to 21–27 months. This is a step in the right 32 , but we'd like to see the U.S. Sentencing Commission make further changes to the guidelines.Along with this effort, we're working with animal advocates and state and federal lawmakers to33 anti-cruelty laws across the country, as well as supporting laws and policies that assist overburdened animal 34 that care for animal fighting victims. This help is 35 important because the high cost of caring for animal victims is a major factor that prevents people from getting involved in cruelty cases in the first place.A) convenientB) createsC) criticallyD) determineE) directionF) hesitateG) inadequateH) inspired I) method J) minimal K) rarelyL) shelters M) strengthen N) sufferings O) torturedSection 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.When Work Becomes a GameA) What motivates employees to do their jobs well? Competition with coworkers, for some. The promise of rewards, for others. Pure enjoyment of problem-solving, for a lucky few.B) Increasingly, companies are tapping into these desires directly through what has come to be known as “gamification”: essentially, turning work into a game. “Gamification is about understanding what it is that makes games engaging and what game designers do to create a great experience in games, and taking those learnings and applying them to other contexts such as the workplace and education,” explains Kevin Werbach, a gamification expert who teaches at the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania in the United States.C) It might mean monitoring employee productivity on a digital leaderboard and offering prizes to the winners, or giving employees digital badges or stars for completing certainactivities. It could also mean training employees how to do their jobs through video game platforms. Companies from Google to L'Oréal to IBM to Wells Fargo are known to use some degree of gamification in their workplaces. And more and more companies are joining them. A recent report suggests that the global gamification market will grow from $1.65 billion in 2015 to $11.1 billion by 2020. D) The concept of gamification is not entirely new, Werbach says. Companies, marketers and teachers have long looked for fun ways to engage people'sreward-seeking or competitive spirits. Cracker Jacks has been “gamifying” its snack food by putting a small prize inside for more than 100 years, he adds, and theturn-of-the-century steel magnate (巨头) Charles Schwab is said to have often come into his factory and written the number of tons of steel produced on the past shift on the factory floor, thus motivating the next shift of workers to beat the previous one.E) But the word “gamification” and the widespread, conscious application of the concept only began in earnest about five years ago, Werbach says. Thanks in part to video games, the generation now entering the workforce is especially open to the idea of having their work gamified. “We are at a point where in much of the developed world the vast majority of young people grew up playing video games, and an increasingly high percentage of adults play these video games too,” Werbach says.F) A number of companies have sprung up – GamEffective, Bunchball and Badgeville, to name a few – in recent years offering gamification platforms for businesses. The platforms that are most effective turn employees' ordinary job tasks into part of a rich adventure narrative. “What makes a game game-like is that the player actually cares about the outcome,” Werbach says.“The p rinciple is about understanding what is motivating to this group of players, which requires some understanding of psychology.”G) Some people, Werbach says, are motivated by competition. Sales people often fall into this category. For them, the right kind of gamification might be turning their sales pitches into a competition with other team members, complete with a digital leaderboard showing who is winning at all times. Others are more motivated by collaboration and social experiences. One company Werbach has studied uses gamification to create a sense of community and boost employees’ morale (士气).When employees log in to their computers, they're shown a picture of one of their coworkers and asked to guess that person's name.H) Gamification does not have to be digital. Monica Cornetti runs a company that gamifies employee trainings. Sometimes this involves technology, but often it does not. She recently designed a gamification strategy for a sales training company with a storm-chasing the me. Employees fo rmed “storm chaser teams” and competed in storm-themed educational exercises to earn various rewards. “Rewards do not have to be stuff,” Cornetti says. “Rewards can be flexible working hours.” Another training, this one for pay roll law, us ed a Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs theme. “Snow White” is available for everyone to use, but the “dwarfs” are still under copyright, so Cornetti invented sound-alike characters (Grumpy Gus, Dopey Dan) to illustrate specific pay roll law principles.I) Some people do not take naturally to gamified work environments, Cornetti says. In her experience, people in positions of power or people in finance or engineering do nottend to like the sound of the word. “If we are designing for engineers, I'm not talking about a ‘game’at all,” Cornetti says. “I'm talking about a ‘simulation’ (模拟), I'm talking about ‘being able to solve this problem.’”J) Gamification is “not a magic bullet,” Werbach warns. A gamification strategy that is not sufficiently thought through or well tailored to its players may engage people for a little while, but it will not motivate people in the long term. It can also be exploitative, especially when used with vulnerable populations. For workers, especially low-paid workers, who desperately need their jobs yet know they can be easily replaced, gamification may feel more like the Hunger Games. Werbach gives the example of several Disneyland hotels in Anaheim, California, which used large digital leaderboards to display how efficiently laundry workers were working compared to one another. Some employees found the board motivating. To others, it was the opposite of fun. Some began to stop taking bathroom breaks, worried that if their productivity fell they would be fired. Pregnant employees struggled to keep up. In a Los Angeles Times article, one employee referred to the board as a “digital whip.” “It actually had a very negative effect on morale and performance,” Werbach says.K) Still, gamification only stands to become more popular, he says, “as more and mo re people come into the workforce who are familiar with the structures and expressions of digital games.” “We are far from reaching the peak,” Cornetti agrees. “There is no reason this will go away.”36. Some famous companies are already using gamification and more are trying to do the same.37. Gamification is not a miracle cure for all workplaces as itmay have negative results.38. To enhance morale, one company asks its employees to identify their fellow workers when starting their computers.39. The idea of gamification was practiced by some businesses more than a century ago.40. There is reason to believe that gamification will be here to stay.41. Video games contributed in some ways to the wide application of gamification.42. When turning work into a game, it is necessary to understand what makes games interesting.43. Gamification in employee training does not always need technology.44. The most successful gamification platforms transform daily work assignments into fun experiences.45. It is nece ssary to use terms other than “gamification” for some professions.Section CDirections: There are 2 passages in this section. Each passage is followed by some questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A), B), C) and D). You should decide on the best choice and mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 2 with a single line through the centre.Passage OneQuestions 46 to 50 are based on the following passage.Recently I attended several meetings where we talked about ways to retain students and keep younger faculty members from going elsewhere.It seems higher education has become an industry of meeting-holders whose task it is to “solve” problems – real orimagined. And in my position as a professor at three different colleges, the actual problems in educating our young people and older students have deepened, while the number of people hired – not to teach but to hold meetings – has increased significantly. Every new problem creates a new job for an administrative fixer. Take our Center for Teaching Excellence. Contrary to its title, the center is a clearing house (信息交流中心) for using technology in classrooms and in online courses. It's an administrative sham (欺诈) of the kind that has multiplied over the last 30 years.I offer a simple proposition in response: Many of our problems –class attendance, educational success, student happiness and well-being – might be improved by cutting down the bureaucratic (官僚的) mechanisms and meetings and instead hiring an army of good teachers. If we replaced half of our administrative staff with classroom teachers, we might actually get a majority of our classes back to 20 orfewer students per teacher. This would be an environment in which teachers and students actually knew each other.The teachers must be free to teach in their own way – the curriculum should be flexible enough so that they can use their individual talents to achieve the goals of the course. Additionally, they should be allowed to teach, and be rewarded for doing it well. Teachers are not people who are great at and consumed by research and happen to appear in a classroom. Good teaching and research are not exclusive, but they are also not automatic companions. Teaching is an art and a craft, talent and practice; it is not something that just anyone can be good at. It is utterly confusing to me that people do not recognize this, despite the fact that pretty much anyone who has been a student can tell the difference between their best and worst teachers.46. What does the author say about present-day universities?A) They are effectively tackling real or imagined problems.B) They often fail to combine teaching with research.C) They are over-burdened with administrative staff.D) They lack talent to fix their deepening problems.47. According to the author, what kind of people do universities lack most?A) Good classroom teachers.B) Efficient administrators.C) Talented researchers.D) Motivated students.48. What does the author imply about the classes at present?A) They facilitate students’ independent learning.B) They help students form closer relationships.C) They have more older students than before.D) They are much bigger than is desirable.49. What does the author think of teaching ability?A) It requires talent and practice.B) It is closely related to research.C) It is a chief factor affecting students' learning.D) It can be acquired through persistent practice.50. What is the author's suggestion for improving university teaching?A) Creating an environment for teachers to share their teaching experiences.B) Hiring more classroom teachers and allowing them to teach in their own way.C) Using high technology in classrooms and promoting exchange of information.D) Cutting down meetings and encouraging administrativestaff to go to classrooms.Passage TwoQuestions 51 to 55 are based on the following passage.The secret to eating less and being happy about it may have been cracked years ago –by McDonald's. According to a new study from Cornell University’s Food and Brand Lab, small non-food rewards –like the toys in McDonald's Happy Meals –stimulate the same reward centers in the brain as food does.The researchers, led by Martin Reimann, carried out a series of experiments to see if people would choose a smaller meal if it was paired with a non-food item.They found that the majority of both kids and adults opted for a half-sized portion when combined with a prize. Both options were priced the same.Even more interesting is that the promise of a future reward was enough to make adults choose the smaller portion. One of the prizes used was a lottery ticket (彩票), with a $10, $50 or $100 payout, and this was as effective as a tangible gift in persuading people to eat less.“The fact tha t participants were w illing to substitute part of a food item for the mere prospect of a relatively small monetary award is interesting,” says Reimann.He theorizes that it is the emotional component of these intangible prizes that make them effective. In fact, vaguely-stated possibilities of winning a prize were more effective than options with hard odds included.“One explanation for this finding is that possible awards may be more emotionally provoking than certainty awards,” says Reimann. “The uncertai nty of winning provid es added attraction and desirability through emotional ‘thrills.’ Thepossibility of receiving an award also produces a state of hope –a state that is in itself psychologically rewarding.” In other words, there's a reason why people l ike to gamble?How might this knowledge be used to help people eat more healthily?One possibility is a healthy option that offers the chance to win a spa (温泉疗养) weekend. Or maybe the reward of a half-sized portion could be a half-sized dessert to be claimed only on a future date. That would get you back in the restaurant – and make you eat a little less.51. What do we learn about McDonald's inclusion of toys in its Happy Meals?A) It may shed light on people's desire to crack a secret.B) It has proved to be key to McDonald's business success.C) It appeals to kid's curiosity to find out what is hidden inside.D) It may be a pleasant way for kids to reduce their food intake.52. What is the finding of the researchers led by Martin Reimann?A) Reducing food intake is not that difficult if people go to McDonald's more.B) Most kids and adults don't actually feel hungry when they eat half of their meal.C) Eating a smaller portion of food does good to the health of kids and adults alike.D) Most kids and adults would choose a smaller meal that came with a non-food item.53. What is most interesting in Martin Reimann's finding?A) Kids preferred an award in the form of money to one inthe form of a toy.B) Adults chose the smaller portion on the mere promise of a future award.C) Both kids and adults felt satisfied with only half of their meal portions.D) Neither children nor adults could resist the temptation ofa free toy.54. How does Martin Reimann interpret his finding?A) The emotional component of the prizes is at work.B) People now care more about quality than quantity.C) People prefer certainty awards to possible awards.D) The desire for a future reward is overwhelming.55. What can we infer from Martin Reimann's finding?A) People should eat much less if they wish to stay healthy and happy.B) More fast food restaurants are likely to follow McDonald's example.C) We can lead people to eat less while helping the restaurant business.D) More studies are needed to find out the impact of emotion on behavior. Part IV TranslationDirections: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to translate a passage from Chinese into English. You should write your answer on Answer Sheet 2.在中国文化中，红色通常象征着好运、长寿和幸福。

2016年12月英语四级真题及答案第一套

2016年12月英语四级真题及答案第一套Part I Writing （30minutes）（请于正式开考后半小时内完成该部分，之后将进行听力考试）Directions：For this part， you are allowed 30 minutes to write an essay .Suppose you are two options upon graduation：one is to find a job somewhere and the other to start a business of your own. You are to make a choice between the two. Write an essay to explain the reasons for your choice. You should write at least 120 words but no more than 180 words.Part II Listening Comprehension （25 minutes）Section ADirections：In this section， you will hear three news reports. At the end of each news report， you will hear two or three questions. Both the news report and the questions will be spoken only once. After you hear a question， you must choose the best answer from the four choices marked A）， B）， C）. Then mark the corresponding letter on the Answer sheet1with a single line through the centre.Questions 1and 2 are based on the news report you have just the heard.1. A） It was dangerous to live in. C） He could no longer pay the rent.B） It was going to be renovated. D） He had sold it to the royal family. 2. A） A strike. B） A storm. C） A forest fire. D） A Terrorist attack. Questions 3and 4 are based on the news report you have just heard.3. A） They lost contact with the emergency department.B）They were trapped in an underground elevator.C） They were injured by suddenly falling rocks.D） They sent calls for help via a portable radio.4. A） They tried hard to repair the accident.B） They released the details of the accident.C） They sent supplies to keep the miners warm.D） They provided the miner with food and water.Question5 to7 are based on the news report you have just heard.5. A） Raise postage rates. C） Redesign delivery routes.B） Improve its services. D） Close some of its post offices.6. A） Shortening business hours. C） Stopping mail delivery on Saturdays.B） Closing offices on holidays. D）Computerizing mail sorting processes.7. A） Many post office staff will lose their jobsB） Many people will begin to complainC） Taxpayers will be very pleasedD）A lot of controversy will ariseSection BDirections：In this section，you will hear two long conversations. At the end of each conversation，you will hear four questions. Both the conversation and the questions will be spoken only once. After you hear a question， you must choose the best answer from four choice marked A），B），C） and D）.Then mark the corresponding letter an Answer sheet1with a single line though the centre.Question8 to 11 are based on the conversation you have just heard.8. A）He will be kept from promotion. C）He will be given a warning.B）He will go through retraining. D）He will lose part of his pay.9. A）He is always on time. C）He is an experienced press operator.B）He is trustworthy guy. D）He is on good terms with his workmates.10. A）She is a trade union representative. C）She is a senior manager of the shop.B）She is in charge of public relation. D）She is better at handing such matters.11. A）He is skilled and experienced. C）He is always trying to stir up trouble.B）He is very close to the manager. D）He is always complaining about low wages. Question12 to 15 are based on the conversation you have just heard.12. A）Open. B）Friendly. C）Selfish. D）Reserved.13. A）They stay quiet. C）They talk about the weatherB）They read a book. D）They chat with fellow passengers.14. A）She was always treated as a foreigner.B）She was eager to visit an English castle.C）She was never invited to a colleague’s home.D）She was unwilling to make friends with workmates.15. A） House are much more quiet. C） They want to have more space.B） Houses provide more privacy. D） They want a garden of their own.Section CDirections：In this section，you will hear three passages. At the end of each passage，you will hear three or four questions. Both the passage and the questions will be spoken only once. After you hear a question，you must choose the best answer from the four choices marked A），B），C） and D）.Then mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 1with a single line through the centre.Questions 16 to 18 are based on the passage you have just heard.16. A） They don’t have much choice of jobs.B） They are likely to get much higher pay.C） They don’t have to go through job interviews.D） They will automatically be given hiring priority.17. A） Ask their professors for help. C） Visit the school careers services.B） Look at school bulletin boards. D） Go through campus newspapers.18. A） Helping students find the books and journals they need.B） Supervising study spaces to ensure a quiet atmosphere.C） Helping students arrange appointments with librarians.D） Providing students with information about the library.Questions 19 to 21 are based on the passage you have just heard.19. A） It tastes better. C） It may be sold at a higher price .B） It is easier to grow. D） It can better survive extreme weathers. 20. A） It is healthier than green tea. C） It will replace green tea one day.B） It can grow in drier soil. D） It is immune to various diseases. 21. A） It has been well received by many tea drinkers.B） It does not bring the promised health benefits.C）It has made tea farmers’ life easier.D） It does not have a stable market.Questions 22 to 25 are based on the passage you have just heard.22. A）They need decorations to show their status.B） They prefer unique objects of high quality.C） They decorate their homes themselves.D） They care more about environment.23. A） They were proud of their creations.B） They could only try to create at night.C） They made great contributions to society.D） They focused on the quality of their products.24. A） Make wise choices. C） Design handicrafts themselves.B） Identify fake crafts. D） Learn the importance of creation.25. A） To boost the local economy. C） To arouse public interest in crafts.B） To attract foreign investments. D） To preserve the traditional culture.PARTⅢ Reading Comprehension （40 minutes）Section ADirections： In this section， there is a passage with ten blanks. You are required to select one word for each blank from a list of choices given in a word bank following the passage. Read the passage through carefully before making your choices. Each choice in the bank is identified by a letter. Please mark the corresponding letter for each item on Answer Sheet 2 with a single line through the centre. You may not use any of the words in the bank more than once.When someone commits a criminal act, we always hope the punishment will match the offense. But when it comes to one of the cruelest crimes — animal fighting — things 26 work out that way. Dog fighting victims are 27 and killed for profit and “sport,” yet their criminal abusers often receive a 28 sentence for causing a lifetime of pain. Roughly half of all federally-convicted animal fighters only get probation(缓刑).Some progress has been made in the prosecution(起诉) of animal fighters. But federal judges often rely heavily on the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines when they 29penalties, and in the case of animal fighting, those guidelines are outdated and extremely30.The U.S. Sentencing Commission, which31these sentencing guidelines, is revisiting them, proposing to raise the minimum sentence from 6-12 to 21-27 months. This is a step in theright 32, but we’d like to see the U.S. Sentencing Commission make further guidelines.Simultaneous to this effort, we’re working with animal advocates and state and federal lawmakers to 33anti-cruelty laws across the country, as well as supporting laws and policies that assist overburdened animal 34 that care for animal fighting victims. This help is35 important because the high cost of caring for animal victims is a major deterrent to intervening in cruelty cases in the first place.Section BDirections：In this section， you are gonging 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.When Work Becomes a Game[A]What motivates employees to do their jobs well? Competition with coworkers, for some. The promise of rewards, for others. Pure enjoyment of problem-solving, for a lucky few.[B]Increasingly, companies are tapping into these desires directly through what’s come to be known as “gamification:” essentially, turning work into a game. “Gamification is about understanding what it is that makes games engaging and what game designers do to create a great experience in games, and taking those learnings and applying them to other contexts such as the workplace and education,” explains Kevin Werbach, a gamification expe rt who teaches at the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania in the United States..[C]It might mean monitoring employee productivity on a digital leaderboard and offering prizes to the winners, or giving employees digital badges or stars for completing certain activities. It could also mean training employees how to do their jobs through video game platforms. Companies from Google to IBM to Wells Fargo are known to use some degree ofgamification in their workplaces. And more and more companies are joining them. A recent report suggests that the global gamification market will grow from $1.65 billion in 2015 to $11.1 billion by 2020.[D]The concept of gamification is not entirely new, Werbach says. Companies, marketers and teachers hav e long looked for fun ways to engage people’s reward-seeking or competitive spirits. Cracker Jacks has been “gamifying” its snack food by putting a small prize inside for more than 100 years, he adds, and the turn-of-the-century steel magnate Charles Schwab is said to have often come into his factory and written the number of tons of steel produced on the past shift on the factory floor, thus motivating the next shift of workers to beat the previous one.[E]But the word “gamification” and the widespread, co nscious application of the concept only began in earnest about five years ago, Werbach says. Thanks in part to video games, the generation now entering the workforce is especially open to the idea of having their work gamified. “We’re at a point where in m uch of the developed world the vast majority of young people grew up playing [video] games, and an increasingly high percentage of adults play these video games too,” Werbach says.[F]A number of companies have sprung up—GamEffective, Bunchball and Badgeville, to name a few—in recent years offering gamification platforms for businesses. The platforms that are most effective turn employees’ ordinary job tasks into part of a rich adventure narrative. “What makes a game game-like is that the player actually cares about the outcome,” Werbach says. “The principle is understanding what is motivating to this group of players, which requires some understanding of psychology.”[G]Some people, Werbach says, are motivated by competition. Sales people often fall into this category. For them, the right kind of gamification might be turning their sales pitches into a competition with other team members, complete with a digital leaderboard showing who’s winning at all times.Others are more motivated by collaboration and soc ial experiences. One company Werbach has studied uses gamification to create a sense of community and boost employee morale. When employees log in to their computers, they’re shown a picture of one of their coworkers and asked to guess that person’s name.[H]Gamification does not have to be digital. Monica Cornetti runs a company that gamifiesemployee trainings. Sometimes this involves technology, but often it does not. She recently designed a gamification strategy for a sales training company with a storm-chasing theme. Employees formed “storm chaser teams” and competed in storm-themed educational exercises to earn various rewards.“Rewards don’t have to be stuff,” Cornetti says. “Rewards can be flextime. Rewards can be extension time.”Another training, thi s one for pay roll law, used a Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs theme. Snow White is public domain, but the dwarfs are still under copyright, so Cornetti invented sound-alike characters (Grumpy Gus, Dopey Dan) to illustrate specific pay roll law principles.[I]Some people don’t take as naturally to gamified work environments, Cornetti says. In her experience, people in positions of power or people in finance or engineering don’t tend to like the sound of the word.“If we’re designing for engineers, I’m not ta lking about a ‘game’ at all,” Cornetti says. “I’m talking about a ‘simulation,’ I’m talking about ‘be ing able to solve this problem.”[J]Gamification is “not a magic bullet,” Werbach cautions. A gamification strategy that’s not sufficiently thought through or tailored to its players may engage people for a little while, but it won’t motivate in the long term. It can also be exploitative, especially when used with vulnerable populations. For workers, especially low-paid workers, who desperately need their jobs yet know they can be easily replaced, gamification may feel more like the Hunger Games. Werbach gives the example of several Disneyland hotels in Anaheim, California, which used large digital leaderboards to display how efficiently laundry workers were working compared to one another. Some employees found the board motivating. To others, it was the opposite of fun. Some began to skip bathroom breaks, worried that if their productivity fell they would be fired. Pregnant employees struggled to keep up. In a Los Angeles Times article, one employee referred to the board as a “digital whip.”“It actually had a very negative effect on morale and performance,” Werbach says.[K]Still, gamification only stands to become more popular, he says, “as more and more peop le come into the workforce who are intuitively familiar with the structures and expressions of digital games.” “We are way ahead of the tipping point,” Cornetti agrees. “There’s no reason this will go away.”36.some famous companies are already using gamification and more are trying to do the same.37.Gamification is not a miracle cure for all workplaces as it may have negative results.38.To enhance morale, one company asks its employees to identify their fellow works when starting their computers.39.The idea of gamification was practiced by some businesses more than a century ago.40.There is a reason to believe that gamification will be here to stay.41.Video games contributed in some ways to the wide application of gamification.42.When turning work into a game, it is necessary to understand what makes games interesting.43.Gamification in employee training does not always need technology.44.The most successful gamification platforms transform daily work assignments into fun experiences.45.It is necessary to use terms other than “gamification” for some professions. Section CDirections：There are 2 passages in this section .Each passage is followed by some questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices maked A），B），C）and D）.You should decide on the best choice and mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet2 with a single line through the centre.Passage OneQuestions 46 to 50 are based on the following passage.Recently I attended several meetings where we talked about ways to retain students and keep younger faculty members from going elsewhere.It seems higher education has become an industry of meeting-holders whose task it is to " solve" problems-real or imagined. And in my position as a professor at three different colleges, the actual problems in educating our young people and older students have deepened, while the number of people hired-not to teach but to hold meetings-has increased significantly. Every new problem creates a new job for an administrative fixer. Take our Center for Teaching Excellence. Contrary to its title, the center is a clearing house (信息交流中心)for using technology in classrooms and in online courses. It's an administrative sham (欺诈) of the kind that has multiplied over the last 30 years.I offer a simple proposition in response: Many of our problems-class attendance, educationalsuccess, student happiness and well-being-might be improved by cutting down the bureaucratic (官僚的) mechanisms and meetings and instead hiring an army of good teachers. lf we replaced half of our administrative staff with classroom teachers, we might actually get a majority of our classes back to 20 or fewer students per teacher This would be an environment in which teachers and students actually knew each other.The teachers must be free to teach in their own way-the curriculum should be flexible enough so that they can use their individual talents to achieve the goals of the course. Additionally; they should be allowed to teach, and be rewarded for doing it well. Teachers are not people who are great at and consumed by research and happen to appear in a classroom. Good teaching and research are not exclusive, but they are also not automatic companions. Teaching is an art and a craft, talent and practice; it is not something that just anyone can be good at. It is utterly confusing to me that people do not recognize this, despite the fact that pretty much anyone who has been a student can tell the difference between their best and worst teachers.46.What does the author say about present-day universities?A)They are effectively tackling real or imagined problems.B)They often fail to combine teaching with research.C)They are over-burdened with administrative staff.D)They lack talent to fix their deepening problems.47.According to the author, what kind of people do universities lack most?A)Good classroom teachers. C) Talented researchers.B)Efficient administrators. D) Motivated students.48.What does the author imply about the classes at present?A)They facilitate students independent learning.B)They help students form closer relationships.C)They have more older students than before.D)They are much bigger than is desirable.49.What does the author think of teaching ability?A)It requires talent and practice.B)It is closely related to research.C)It is a chief factor affecting students 'learning.D)It can be acquired through persistent practice.50.What is the author’s suggestion for improving university teaching?A)Creating an environment for teachers to share 'their teaching experiences.B)Hiring more classroom teachers and allowing them to teach in their own way.C)Using high technology in classrooms and promoting exchange of information.D)Cutting down meetings and encouraging administrative staff to go to classrooms.Passage TwoQuestions 51to 55 are based on the following passage.The secret to eating less and being happy about it may have been cracked years ago-by McDonald's. According to a new study from Cornell University's Food and Brand Lab, small non-food rewards-like the toys in McDonald's Happy Meals-stimulate the same reward centers in the brain as food does.The researchers, led by Martin Reimann, carried out a series of experiments to see if people would choose a smaller meal if it was paired with a non-food items.They found that the majority of both kids and adults opted for a half-sized portion when combined with a prize. Both options were priced the same.Even more interesting is that the promise of a future reward was enough to make adults choose the smaller portion.\One of the prizes used was a lottery ticket（彩票）, with a $ 10, $ 50 or $ 100 payout, and this was as effective as a tangible gift in persuading people to eat less."The fact that participants were willing to substitute part of a food item for the mere prospect of a relatively small monetary award is interesting.”says Reimann.He theorizes that it is the emotional component of these intangible prizes that make them effective. In fact, vaguely-stated possibilities of winning a prize were more effective than options with hard odds included.“One explana tion for this finding is that possible awards may be more emotionally provoking than certainty awards," says Reimann. " The uncertainty of winning provides added attraction and desirability through emotional ‘thrills.' The possibility of receiving an award also produces a state of hope一a state that is in itself psychologically rewarding·"Inother words, there’s a reason why people like to gambleHow might it’s knowledge be used to help people eat more healthily?One possibility is a healthy that offers the chance to win a spa (温泉疗养) weekend. Or maybe the reward of a half-sized portion could be a half-sized dessert to be claimed only on a future date. That would get you back in the restaurant-and make you eat a little less.51.What do we learn about McDonald’s inclusion of toys in its Happy Meals?A)It may shed light on people’s desire to crack a secret.B)It has proved to be key to McDonald’s business success.C)It appeals to kid’s curiosity to find out what is hidden inside.D)It may be a pleasant way for kids to reduce their food intake.52. What is the finding of the researchers led by Martin Reimann?A)Reducing food intake is not that difficult if people go to McDonald’s more.B)Most kids and adults don’t actually feel hungry when they eat half of their meal.C)Eating a smaller does good to the health of kids and adults alike.D)Most kids and adults would choose a smaller meal that came with a non-food item.53.What is most interesting in Martin Reimann’s finding?A)Kids preferred an award in the form of money to one in the form of a toy.B)Adults chose the smaller portion on the mere promise of a future awardC)Both kids and adults felt satisfied with only half of their meal portions.D)Neither children nor adults could resist the temptation of a free toy.54.How does Martin Reimann interpret his finding?A)The emotional component of the prizes is at work.B)People now care more about quality than quantity.C)People prefer certainty awards to possible awards.D) The desire for a future reward is overwhelming.55.What can we infer from Martin Reimann’s finding?A)·People should eat much less if they ·wish to stay healthy and happy.B)More fast food restaurants are likely to follow McDonald’s example.C)We can lead people to eat less while helping the restaurant business.D)More studies are needed to find out the impact of emotion on behavior.Part IV Translation （30 minutes）Directions： For this part， you are allowed 30minutes to translate a passage from Chinese into English .You should write your answer on Answer Sheet 2.在中国文化中，红色通常象征着好运、长寿和幸福.在春节和其他喜庆场合，红色到处可见.人们把现金作为礼物送给家人或亲密朋友时，通常放在红色信封里.红色在中国流行的另一个原因是人们把它与中国革命和共产党相联系.然而，红色并不总是代表好运和快乐.因为从死前者名字通常用红色书写，用红墨水书写中国人名被看成是一种冒犯行为.2016年12月大学英语四级答案（第一套）Part1 writing (30 minutes)破题思路：第一段：话题描述. 第二段：表明观点+阐述原因. 第三段：观点结论.参考范文：(选择就业还是创业)Finding a Job FirstUpon graduation， virtually all college students will confront the problem of the career choice，which is truly a tough choice. Students’ opinions differ greatly on this issue. Some hold that priority should be given to start a business of your own， but others take the attitude that finding a job is the best choice influencing their future.As to myself， I prefer the latter view. An opportunity to start a business exerts a tremendous fascination on a great number of people， with no exception to me. In my view，With the competition in the job market becoming increasingly fierce for college graduates，some ambitious students have tried their hands at launching their own businesses. Over the years，there have been many successful cases of student entrepreneurship and such attempts should be encouraged and promoted by both the universities and the society at large. What’s more ，College students who start businesses are pioneers，among wh om will be born China’s future business leaders. Faced with unknown challenges， they are audacious enough to embark on a perilous journey while most of their peers enjoy stable salaries by working as white-collars at high-end office buildings.All in all， the essential difference between the students who find a job or those students who create their own businesses is that the former are docile followers whereas the latter are aggressive trailblazers. For this reason， business-launching college graduates are more admirable， and thus they command our deep respect.Part II Listening Comprehension （25 minutes）【英语四级听力真题解析】听力作为一种考试题型，目的在于考查应试者对英语语言的把握，自从英语四级题型改革后，所选题材侧重新闻稿和演讲稿，比如这次英语四级考试的Section A 部分，主要是关于采盐工人的相关新闻报导，文章稍难，我们在作答之前，一定要快速浏览各题目的选项，先把核心关键词划出来，比如重要的名词，名词性短语等，这样可以帮助我们预知要听的重点，提高捕捉信息的准确度，降低听力材料的难度.在听录音的过程中，快速作标记，锁定正确答案.1.(A)It was dangerous to live in.2.(B)A storm3.(B)They were trapped in an underground elevator.4.(C)They sent supplies to keep the miners warm.5.(D)Close some of its post office.6.(C)Stopping mail delivery on Saturdays.7.(A)Many post office staff will lose their jobs.Section B8.(D)He will lose part of his pay.9.(B)He is a trustworthy guy. 10.(D)She is better at handling such matters.11.(C)He is always trying to stir up trouble. 12.(D)Reserved13.(A)They stay quiet 14.(C)She was never invited to a colleague’s home.15.(B)Houses provide more privacySection C16.(D)They will automatically be given hiring priority.17.(C)Visit the school careers service.18.(B)Supervising study spaces to ensure a quiet atmosphere.19.(C)It may be sold at a higher price. 20.(A)It is healthier than green tee.21.(D)It does not have a stable market.22.(B)They prefer unique objects of high quality.23.(B)They could only try to create at night.24.(A)Make wise choices.25.(A)To boost the local economy.Section AA 16th century castle in Scotland is close to collapsing after lumps of soils were washed away by floods, threatening its foundations.On Sunday, the castle’s owner John Gordon, 76, was forced to move out his property after the River Dee swept away about 60 feet of land, leaving the castle dangerous close to the river. According to the Scottish Daily Record.Abergeldie castle located in Aberdeenshire, Scotland was built by Sir Alexander Gordon ofMidmar who later became the Earl of Huntly.The castle which is located on 11,700 acres was leased to members of the royal family between 1848 and 1970, including King Edward VII and George V.The Scottish Environment Protection Agency has issued more than 35 flood warnings covering several regions, as Scotland continues to clean up the after Storm Frank hit the country last Wednesday.“This means that rivers will rise more slowly, but then stay high for much longer.” the environmental agency said.Q1. Why did John Gordon move out of Abergeldie castle?Q2. What happened in Scotland last Wednesday?Section A - 2Rescue efforts were underway Thursday morning for 17 miners who were stuck in an elevator below ground at a Cargill rock salt mine near Lansing, New York, according to Marcia Lynch. Public information officer with Tompkins County’s emergency response department, emergency workers have made contact with the miners via a radio. And they all appear to be uninjured, said Jessica Verfuss, the emergency department’s assistant director. Crews have managed to provide heat packs and blankets to the miners so that they can keep warm during the rescue operation, Verfuss said. Details about what led to the workers’ being trapped in the elevator went immediately available. The mine, along New Yo rk’s Cayuga Lake, processes salt used for road treatment. It produces about 2 million tons of salt that is shipped to more than 1,500 places in the northeastern United States, the rock salt mine is one of three operated by Cargill with the other two in Louisiana and Ohio.Q3. What does the news report say about the salt miners?Q4.What did the rescue team do?Section A - 3The U.S. Postal Service announced today that it is considering closing about 3,700 post offices over the next year because of falling revenues.Facing an $8.3 billion budget deficit this year, closing post officers is one of several proposals the Postal Service has put forth recently to cut costs. Last week, for example, Postmaster General Pat Donahoe announced plans to stop mail delivery on Saturdays, a move。

2016年12月大学英语四级真题及完整答案(共两卷)

2016年12月大学英语四级真题（第一套）Part I Writing (30minutes)Directions:For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write an essay. Suppose you have two options upon graduation: one is to take a job in a company and the other to go to a graduate school. You are to make a choice between the two. Write an essay to explain the reasons for your choice. You should write at least 120 words but no more than 180 words.Part II Listening Comprehension (25 minutes)Section ADirections: In this section, you will hear three news reports. At the end of each news report, you will hear two or three questions. Both the news report and the questions will be spoken only once. After you hear a question, you must choose the best answer from the four choices marked A), B), C) and D). Then mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 1 with a single line through the centre.Questions 1and 2 are based on the news report you have just the heard.1. A) It was going to be renovated. C) It was dangerous to live in.B) He could no longer pay the rent. D) He had sold it to the royal family.2. A) A storm. C) A forest fire.B) A strike. D) A Terrorist attack.Questions 3and 4 are based on the news report you have just heard.3. A) They lost contact with the emergency department.B) They were injured by suddenly falling rocks.C) They sent calls for help via a portable radio.D) They were trapped in an underground elevator.4. A) They provided the miner with food and water.B) They sent supplies to keep the miners warm.C) They released the details of the accident.D) They tried hard to repair the accident.Question5 to7 are based on the news report you have just heard.5. A) Raise postage rates. C) Close some of its post offices.B) Improve its services. D) Redesign delivery routes.6. A) Closing offices on holidays. C) Computerizing mail sorting processes.B) Shortening business hours. D) Stopping mail delivery on Saturdays.7.A）A lot of controversy will ariseB) Taxpayers will be very pleasedC) Many people will begin to complainD) Many post office staff will lose their jobsSection BDirections:In this section,you will hear two long conversations.At the end of eachconversation,you will hear four questions. Both the conversation and the questions will be spoken only once. After you hear a question, you must choose the best answer from four choice marked A),B),C) and D).Then mark the corresponding letter an Answer sheet1 with a single line though the centre.Question8 to 11 are based on the conversation you have just heard.8.A)He will lose part of his pay. C)He will be given a warning.B)He will go through retraining. D)He is go good terms with his workmates.9.A)He is an experienced press operator. C)He is always on time.B)He is trustworthy guy. D）He is go good terms with his workmates.10.A)She is a trade union representative. C)She is better at handing such matters.B)She is a senior manager of the shop. D)She is in charge of public relation.11.A)He is always trying to stir up trouble.B)He is skilled and experienced.C)He is very close to the manager.D)He is always complaining about low wages.Question12 to 15 are based on the conversation you have just heard.12.A)Open. C)Selfish.B)Reserved. D)Friendly.13.A)They read a book. C)They stay quiet.B)They talk about the weather D)They chat with fellow passengers.14.A)She was unwilling to make friends with workmates.B)She was never invited to a colleague’s home.C)She was eager to visit an English castle.D)She was always treated as a foreigner.15.A) House are much more quiet. C) They want a garden of their own.B) They want to have more space. D) Houses provide more privacy. Section CDirections:In this section,you will hear three passages.At the end of each passage,you will hear three or four questions.Both the passage and the questions will be spoken only once.After you hear a question,you must choose the best answer from the four choices marked A),B),C) and D).Then mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 1 with a single line through the centre.Questions 16 to 18 are based on the passage you have just heard.16.A) They will automatically be given hiring priority.B) They don’t have to go through job interviews.C) They are likely to get much higher pay.D) They don’t have much choice of jobs.17.A) Visit the school careers services. C) Look at school bulletin boards.B) Ask their professors for help. D) Go through campus newspapers.18.A) Providing students with information about the library.B) Helping students arrange appointments with librarians.C) Supervising study spaces to ensure a quiet atmosphere.D) Helping students find the books and journals they need.Questions 19 to 21 are based on the passage you have just heard.19.A) It tastes better. C) It is easier to grow.B) It may be sold at a higher price. D) It can better survive extreme weathers.20.A) It can grow in drier soil. C) It will replace green tea one day.B) It is immune to various diseases. D) It is healthier than green tea.21.A) It does not have a stable market.B) It has made tea farmers’ life easier.C) It does not bring the promised health benefits.D) It has been well received by many tea drinkers.Questions 22 to 25 are based on the passage you have just heard.22. A) They care more about environment.B) They decorate their homes themselves.C) They prefer unique objects of high quality.D) They need decorations to show their status.23. A) They made great contributions to society.B) They could only try to create at night.C) They were proud of their creations.D) They focused on the quality of their products.24. A) Identify fake crafts. C) Design handicrafts themselves.B) Make wise choices. D) Learn the importance of creation.25. A) To attract foreign investments. C) To arouse public interest in crafts.B) To preserve the traditional culture. D) To boost the local economy.Part III Reading Comprehension (40 minutes)Section ADirections:In this section, there is a passage with ten blanks. You are required to select one word for each blank from a list of choices given in a word bank following the passage. Read the passage through carefully before making your choices. Each choice in the bank is identified by a letter. Please mark the corresponding letter for each item on Answer Sheet 2 with a single line through the centre. You may not use any of the words in the bank more than once.Many men and women have long bought into the idea that there are “male” and “female” brains, believing that explains just about every difference between the sexes.A new study（26）that belief, questioning whether brains really can be distinguished by gender.In the study, Tel Aviv University researchers（27）for sex differences the entire human brain.And what did they find? Not much. Rather than offer evidence for（28）brains as “male” or “female,” research shows that brains fall into a wide range, with most people falling right in the middle.Daphna Joel, who led the study, said her research found that while there are some gender-based（29）, many different types of brain can’t always be distinguished by gender.While the “average” male and “average” female brains were（30）different, you couldn’t tell it by lo oking at individual brain scans. Only a small（31）of people had “all-male” or “all-female” characteristics.Larry Cahill, an American neuroscientist (神经科学家),said the study is an important addition to a growing body of research questioning（32）beliefs about gender and brain function. But he cautioned against concluding from this study that all brains are the same,（33）of gender.“There’s a mountain of evidence（34）the importance of sex influences at all levels of brain function,” he told The Seattle Times.If anything, he said, the study（35）that gender plays a very important role in the brain “even when we are not clear exactly how.”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.Can Burglars Jam Your Wireless Security System?[A]Any product that promises to protect your home deserves careful examination. So it i sn’t surprising that you’ll find plenty of strong opinions about the potential vulnerabilities of popular home-security systems.[B]The most likely type of burglary (入室盗窃) by far is the unsophisticated crime of opportunity, usually involving a broken window or some forced entry. According to the FBI, crimes like these accounted roughly two-thirds of all household burglaries in the US in 2013.The wide majority of the rest were illegal, unforced entries that resulted from something like a window being left open. The odds of a criminal using technical means to bypass a security system are so small that the FBI doesn’t even track those statistics.[C]One of the main theoretical home-security concerns is whether or not a given system is vulnerable to being blocked from working altogether. With wired setups, the fear is that a burglar (入室盗贼) might be able to shut your system down simply by cutting the right cable. With a wireless setup, you stick battery-powered sensors up around your home that keep an eye on windows, doors, motion, and more. If they detect something wrong while the system is armed, they’ll transmit a wireless alert signal to a base station that will then raise the alarm. That approach will eliminate most cord-cutting concerns—but what about their wireless equivalent, jamming? With the right device tuned to the right frequency, what’s to stop a thief from jamming your setup and blocking that alert signal from ever reaching the base station?[D]Jamming concerns are nothing new, and they’re not u nique to security systems. Any device that’s built to receive a wireless signal at a specific frequency can be overwhelmed by a stronger signal coming in on the same frequency. For comparison, let’s say you wanted to “jam” a conversation between two people—all you’d need to do is yell in the listener’s ear.[E] Security devices are required to list the frequencies they broadcast on—that means that a potential thief can find what they need to know with minimal Googling. They will, however, need so know wha t system they’re looking for. If you have a sign in your yard declaring what setup you use, that’d point them in the right direction, though at that point, we’re talking about a highly targeted, semi-sophisticated attack, and not the sort forced-entry atta ck that makes up the majority of burglaries. It’s easier to find and acquire jamming equipment for some frequencies than it is for others.[F] Wireless security providers will often take steps to help combat the threat of jamming attacks. SimpliSafe, winner of our Editor’s Choice distinction, utilizes a special system that’s capable of separating incidental RF interference from targeted jamming attacks. When the system thinks it’s being jammed, it’ll notify you via push alert(推送警报).From there, it’s up to you to sound the alarm manually.[G] SimpliSafe was singled out in one recent article on jamming, complete with a video showing the entire system being effectively bypassed with handheld jamming equipment. After taking appropriate measures to contain the RF interference to our test lab, we tested the attack out for ourselves, and were able to verify that it’s possible with the right equipment. However, we also verified that SimpliSafe’santi-jamming system works. It caught us in the act, sent an alert to my smartphone, and also listed our RF interference on the system’s event log. The team behind the article and video in question make no mention of the system, or whether or not in detected them.[H]We like the unique nature of that software. It means that a thief likely wouldn’t be able to Google how the system works, then figure out a way around it. Even if they could, SimpliSafe claims that its system is always evolving, and that it varies slightly from system to system, which means there wouldn’t be a universal magic formula for cracking it. Other systems also seem confident on the subject of jamming. The team at Frontpoint addresses the issue in a blog on its site, citing their own jam protection software and claiming that there aren’t any documented cases of successful jam attack since the company began offering wireless security sensors in the 1980s.[I] Jamming attacks are absolutely possible. As said before, with the right equipment and the right know-how, it’s possible to jam any wireless trans mission. But how probable is it that someone will successfully jam their way into your home and steal your stuff?[J] Let’s imagine that you live in a small home with a wireless security setup that offers a functional anti-jamming system. First, a thief is going to need to target your home, specifically. Then, he’s going to need to know the technical details of your system and acquire the specific equipment necessary for jamming your specific setup. Presumably, you keep your doors locked at night and whil e you’re away. So the thief will still need to break in. That means defeating the lock somehow, or breaking a window. He’ll need to be jamming you at this point, as a broken window or openeddoor would normally release the alarm. So, too, would the motion detectors in your home, so the thief will need to continue jamming once he’s inside and searching for things to steal. However, he’ll need to do so without tripping the anti-jamming system, the details of which he almost certainly does now have access to.[K]At the end of the day, these kinds of systems are primarily designed to protect against the sort of opportunistic smash-and-grab attack that makes up the majority of burglaries. They’re also only a single layer in what should ideally be a many-sided approach to securing your home, one that includes common sense things like sound locks and proper exterior lighting at night. No system is impenetrable, and none can promise to eliminate the worst case completely. Every one of them has vulnerabilities that a knowledgeable thief could theoretically exploit. A good system is one that keeps that worst-case setting as improbable as possible while also offering strong protection in the event of a less-extraordinary attack.36. It is possible for burglars to make jamming attacks with the necessary equipmentand skill.37. Interfering with a wireless security system is similar to interfering with aconversation.38. A burglar has to continuously jam the wireless security device to avoid triggeringthe alarm, both inside and outside the house.39. SimpliSafe provides devices that are able to distinguish incidental radiointerference from targeted jamming attacks.40. Only a very small proportion of burglaries are committed by technical means.41. It is difficult to crack SimpliSafe as its system keeps changing.42. Wireless devices will transmit signals so as to activate the alarm once somethingwrong is detected.43. Different measures should be taken to protect one’s home from burglary inaddition to the wireless security system.44. SimpliSafe’s device can send a warning to the house owner’s cellphone.45. Burglars can easily get a security device’s frequency by Internet search.Section CDirections:There are 2 passages in this section. Each passage is followed by some questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A),B),C) and D).You should decide on the best choice and mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 2 with a single line through the centre.Passage OneQuestions 46 to 50 are based on the following passage.As a person who writes about food and drink for a living. I couldn’t tell you the first thing about Bill Perry or whether the beers he sells are that great. But I can tell you that I like this guy. That’s beca use he plans to ban tipping in favor of paying his servers an actual living wage.I hate tipping.I hate it because it’s an obligation disguised as an option. I hate it for thepost-dinner math it requires of me. But mostly, I hate tipping because I believe I would be in a better place if pay decisions regarding employees were simply left up to their employers, as is the custom in virtually every other industry.Most of you probably think that you hate tipping, too. Research suggests otherwise. You actually love tipping! You like to feel that you have a voice in how much money your server makes. No matter how the math works out, you persistently view restaurants with voluntary tipping systems as being a better value, which makes it extremely difficult for restaurants and bars to do away with the tipping system.One argument that you tend to hear a lot from the pro-tipping crowd seems logical enough: the service is better when waiters depend on tips, presumably because they see a benefit to successfully veiling their contempt for you. Well, if this were true, we would all be slipping a few 100-dollar bills to our doctors on the way out their doors, too. But as it turns out, waiters see only a tiny bump in tips when they do an exceptional job compared to a passable one. Waiters, keen observers of humanity that they are, are catching on to this; in one poll, a full 30% said they didn’t believe the job they did had any impact on the tips they received.So come on, folks: get on board with ditching the outdated tip system. Pay a little more upfront for your beer or burger. Support Bill Perry’s pub, and any other bar or restaurant that doesn’t ask you to do drunken math.46. What can we learn about Bill Perry from the passage?A) He runs a pub that serves excellent beer.B) He intends to get rid of the tipping practice.C) He gives his staff a considerable sum for tips.D) He lives comfortably without getting any tips.47. What is the main reason why the author hates tipping?A) It sets a bad example for other industries.B) It adds to the burden of ordinary customers.C) It forces the customer to compensate the waiter.D) It poses a great challenge for customers to do math.48. Why do many people love tipping according to the author?A) They help improve the quality of the restaurants they dine in.B) They believe waiters deserve such rewards for good service.C) They want to preserve a wonderful tradition of the industry.D) They can have some say in how much their servers earn.49. What have some waiters come to realize according to a survey?A) Service quality has little effect on tip size.B) It is in human mature to try to save on tips.C) Tips make it more difficult to please customers.D) Tips benefit the boss rather that the employees.50. What does the author argue for in the passage?A) Restaurants should calculate the tips for customers.B) Customers should pay more tips to help improve service.C) Waiters deserve better than just relying on tips for a living.D) Waiters should be paid by employers instead of customers.Passage TwoQuestions 51 to 55 are based on the following passage.In the past, falling oil prices have given a boost to the world economy, but recent forecasts for global growth have been toned down, even as oil prices sink lower and lower. Does that mean the link between lower oil prices and growth has weakened?Some experts say there are still good reasons to believe cheap oil should heat up the world economy. Consumers have more money in their pockets when the y’re paying less at the pump. They spend that money on other things, which stimulates the economy.The biggest gains go to countries that import most of their oil like China, Japan, and India, But doesn’t the extra money in the pockets of those countries’ consumers mean an equal loss in oil producing countries, cancelling out the gains? Not necessarily, says economic researcher Sara Johnson. “Many oil producers built up huge reserve funds when prices were high, so when prices fall they will draw on their reserves to support government spending and subsidies(补贴) for their consumers.”But not all oil producers have big reserves, In Venezuela, collapsing oil prices have sent its economy into free-fall.Economist Carl Weinberg believes the negative effects of plunging oil prices are overwhelming the positive effects of cheaper oil. The implication is a sharp decline in global trade, which has plunged partly because oil-producing nations can’t afford to import as much as they used to.Sara Johnson acknowledges that the global economic benefit from a fall in oil prices today is likely lower than it was in the past. One reason is that more countries are big oil producers now, so the nations suffering from the price drop account for a larger share of the global economy.Consumers, in the U.S. at least, are acting cautiously with the savings they’re getting at the gas pump, as the memory of the recent great recession is still fresh in their mind. And a number of oil-producing countries are trimming their gasolinesubsidies and raising taxes, so the net savings for global consumers is not as big as the oil price plunge might suggest.51. What does the author mainly discuss in the passage?A) The reasons behind the plunge of oil prices.B) Possible ways to stimulate the global economy.C) The impact of cheap oil on global economic growth.D) The effect of falling oil prices on consumer spending.52. Why do some experts believe cheap oil will stimulate the global economy?A) Manufacturers can produce consumer goods at a much lower cost.B) Lower oil prices have always given a big boost to the global economy.C) Oil prices may rise or fall but economic laws are not subject to change.D) Consumers will spend their saving from cheap oil on other commodities.53. What happens in many oil-exporting countries when oil prices go down?A) They suspend import of necessities from overseas.B) They reduce production drastically to boost oil prices.C) They use their money reserves to back up consumption.D) They try to stop their economy from going into free-fall.54. How does Carl Weinberg view the current oil price plunge?A) It is one that has seen no parallel in economic history.B) Its negative effects more than cancel out its positive effects.C) It still has a chance to give rise to a boom in the global economy.D) Its effects on the global economy go against existing economic laws.55. Why haven’t falling oil prices boosted the global economy as they did before?A) People are not spending all the money they save on gas.B) The global economy is likely to undergo another recession.C) Oil importers account for a larger portion of the global economy.D) People the world over are afraid of a further plunge in oil prices.Part IV Translation (30minutes)Directions: For this part,you are allowed 30minutes to transtate a passage from Chinese into English.You should write your answer on Answer Sheet 2.在中国文化中，红色通常象征着好运、长寿和幸福，在春节和其他喜庆场合，红色到处可见。

2016年12月大学英语四级真题及完整问题详解(共两卷)

2016年12月大学英语四级真题（第一套）Part I Writing (30minutes)Directions:For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write an essay. Suppose you have two options upon graduation: one is to take a job in a company and the other to go to a graduate school. You are to make a choice between the two. Write an essay to explain the reasons for your choice. You should write at least 120 words but no more than 180 words.Part II Listening Comprehension (25 minutes)Section ADirections: In this section, you will hear three news reports. At the end of each news report, you will hear two or three questions. Both the news report and the questions will be spoken only once. After you hear a question, you must choose the best answer from the four choices marked A), B), C) and D). Then mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 1 with a single line through the centre.Questions 1and 2 are based on the news report you have just the heard.1. A) It was going to be renovated. C) It was dangerous to live in.B) He could no longer pay the rent. D) He had sold it to the royal family.2. A) A storm. C) A forest fire.B) A strike. D) A Terrorist attack.Questions 3and 4 are based on the news report you have just heard.3. A) They lost contact with the emergency department.B) They were injured by suddenly falling rocks.C) They sent calls for help via a portable radio.D) They were trapped in an underground elevator.4. A) They provided the miner with food and water.B) They sent supplies to keep the miners warm.C) They released the details of the accident.D) They tried hard to repair the accident.Question5 to7 are based on the news report you have just heard.5. A) Raise postage rates. C) Close some of its post offices.B) Improve its services. D) Redesign delivery routes.6. A) Closing offices on holidays. C) Computerizing mail sorting processes.B) Shortening business hours. D) Stopping mail delivery on Saturdays.7.A）A lot of controversy will ariseB) Taxpayers will be very pleasedC) Many people will begin to complainD) Many post office staff will lose their jobsSection BDirections:In this section,you will hear two long conversations.At the end of eachconversation,you will hear four questions. Both the conversation and the questions will be spoken only once. After you hear a question, you must choose the best answer from four choice marked A),B),C) and D).Then mark the corresponding letter an Answer sheet1with a single line though the centre.Question8 to 11 are based on the conversation you have just heard.8. A)He will lose part of his pay. C)He will be given a warning.B)He will go through retraining. D)He is go good terms with his workmates.9. A)He is an experienced press operator. C)He is always on time.B)He is trustworthy guy. D）He is go good terms with his workmates.10.A)She is a trade union representative. C)She is better at handing such matters.B)She is a senior manager of the shop. D)She is in charge of public relation.11.A)He is always trying to stir up trouble.B)He is skilled and experienced.C)He is very close to the manager.D)He is always complaining about low wages.Question12 to 15 are based on the conversation you have just heard.12.A)Open. C)Selfish.B)Reserved. D)Friendly.13.A)They read a book. C)They stay quiet.B)They talk about the weather D)They chat with fellow passengers.14.A)She was unwilling to make friends with workmates.B)She was never invited to a colleague’s home.C)She was eager to visit an English castle.D)She was always treated as a foreigner.15.A) House are much more quiet. C) They want a garden of their own.B) They want to have more space. D) Houses provide more privacy.Section CDirections:In this section,you will hear three passages.At the end of each passage,you will hear three or four questions.Both the passage and the questions will be spoken only once.After you hear a question,you must choose the best answer from the four choices marked A),B),C) and D).Then mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 1with a single line through the centre.Questions 16 to 18 are based on the passage you have just heard.16.A) They will automatically be given hiring priority.B) They don’t have to go through job interviews.C) They are likely to get much higher pay.D) They don’t have much choice of jobs.17.A) Visit the school careers services. C) Look at school bulletin boards.B) Ask their professors for help. D) Go through campus newspapers.18.A) Providing students with information about the library.B) Helping students arrange appointments with librarians.C) Supervising study spaces to ensure a quiet atmosphere.D) Helping students find the books and journals they need. Questions 19 to 21 are based on the passage you have just heard.19.A) It tastes better. C) It is easier to grow.B) It may be sold at a higher price. D) It can better survive extreme weathers.20.A) It can grow in drier soil. C) It will replace green tea one day.B) It is immune to various diseases. D) It is healthier than green tea.21.A) It does not have a stable market.B) It has made tea farmers’ life easier.C) It does not bring the promised health benefits.D) It has been well received by many tea drinkers.Questions 22 to 25 are based on the passage you have just heard.22. A) They care more about environment.B) They decorate their homes themselves.C) They prefer unique objects of high quality.D) They need decorations to show their status.23. A) They made great contributions to society.B) They could only try to create at night.C) They were proud of their creations.D) They focused on the quality of their products.24. A) Identify fake crafts. C) Design handicrafts themselves.B) Make wise choices. D) Learn the importance of creation.25. A) To attract foreign investments. C) To arouse publicinterest in crafts.B) To preserve the traditional culture. D) To boost the local economy.Part III Reading Comprehension (40 minutes)Section ADirections:In this section, there is a passage with ten blanks. You are required to select one word for each blank from a list of choices given in a word bank following the passage. Read the passage through carefully before making your choices. Each choice in the bank is identified by a letter. Please mark the corresponding letter for each item on Answer Sheet 2 with a single line through the centre. You may not use any of the words in the bank more than once.Many men and women have long bought into the idea that there are “male”and “female” brains, believing that explains just about every difference between the sexes. A new study（26）that belief, questioning whether brains really can be distinguished by gender.In the study, Tel Aviv University researchers（27）for sex differences the entire human brain.And what did they find? Not much. Rather than offer evidence for （28）brains as “male” or “female,” research shows that brains fall into a wide range, with most people falling right in the middle.Daphna Joel, who led the study, said her research found that while there are some gender-based（29）, many different types of brain can’t always be distinguished by gender.While the “average” male and “average” female brains were（30）different, you couldn’t tell it by looking at individual brain scans. Only a small（31）of people had “all-male” or “all-female”characteristics.Larry Cahill, an American neuroscientist (神经科学家),said the study is an important addition to a growing body of research questioning（32）beliefs about gender and brain function. But he cautioned against concluding from this study that all brains are the same,（33）of gender.“There’s a mountain of evidence（34）the importance of sex influences at all levels of brain function,” he told The Seattle Times.If anything, he said, the study（35） that gender plays a very important role in the brain “even when we are not clear exactly how.”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.Can Burglars Jam Your Wireless Security System?[A]Any product that promises to protect your home deserves careful examination. So it isn’t surprising that you’ll find plenty of strong opinions about the potential vulnerabilities of popular home-security systems.[B]The most likely type of burglary (入室盗窃) by far is the unsophisticated crime of opportunity, usually involving a broken window or some forced entry. According to the FBI, crimes like these accounted roughly two-thirds of all household burglaries in the US in 2013.The widemajority of the rest were illegal, unforced entries that resulted from something like a window being left open. The odds of a criminal using technical means to bypass a security system are so small that the FBI doesn’t even track those statistics.[C]One of the main theoretical home-security concerns is whether or not a given system is vulnerable to being blocked from working altogether. With wired setups, the fear is that a burglar (入室盗贼) might be able to shut your system down simply by cutting the right cable. With a wireless setup, you stick battery-powered sensors up around your home that keep an eye on windows, doors, motion, and more. If they detect something wrong while the system is armed, they’ll transmit a wireless alert signal to a base station that will then raise the alarm. That approach will eliminate most cord-cutting concerns—but what about their wireless equivalent, jamming? With the right device tuned to the right frequency, what’s to stop a thief from jamming your setup and blocking that alert signal from ever reaching the base station?[D]Jamming concerns are nothing new, and they’re not unique to security systems. Any device that’s built to receive a wireless signal at a specific frequency can be overwhelmed by a stronger signal coming in on the same frequency. For comparison, let’s say you wanted to “jam”a conversation between two people—all you’d need to do is yell in the listener’s ear.[E] Security devices are required to list the frequencies they broadcast on—that means that a potential thief can find what they need to know with minimal Googling. They will, however, need so know what system they’re looking for. If you have a sign in your yard declaring what setup you use, that’d point them in the right direction, though at that point, we’re talking about a highly targeted, semi-sophisticated attack, and not the sort forced-entry attack that makes up the majority of burglaries. It’s easier to find and acquire jamming equipment for some frequencies than it is for others.[F] Wireless security providers will often take steps to help combat the threat of jamming attacks. SimpliSafe, winner of our Editor’s Choice distinction, utilizes a special system that’s capable of separatingincidental RF interference from targeted jamming attacks. When the system thinks it’s being jammed, it’ll notify you via push alert(推送警报).From there, it’s up to you to sound the alarm manually.[G] SimpliSafe was singled out in one recent article on jamming, complete with a video showing the entire system being effectively bypassed with handheld jamming equipment. After taking appropriate measures to contain the RF interference to our test lab, we tested the attack out for ourselves, and were able to verify that it’s possible with the right equipment. However, we also verified that SimpliSafe’s anti-jamming system works. It caught us in the act, sent an alert to my smartphone, and also listed our RF interference on the system’s event log. The team behind the article and video in question make no mention of the system, or whether or not in detected them.[H]We like the unique nature of that software. It means that a thief likely wouldn’t be able to Google how the system works, then figure out a way around it. Even if they could, SimpliSafe claims that its system is always evolving, and that it varies slightly from system to system, which means there wouldn’t be a universal magic formula for cracking it. Other systems also seem confident on the subject of jamming. The team at Frontpoint addresses the issue in a blog on its site, citing their own jam protection software and claiming that there aren’t any documented cases of successful jam attack since the company began offering wireless security sensors in the 1980s.[I] Jamming attacks are absolutely possible. As said before, with the right equipment and the right know-how, it’s possible to jam any wireless transmission. But how probable is it that someone will successfully jam their way into your home and steal your stuff?[J] Let’s imagine that you live in a small home with a wireless security setup that offers a functional anti-jamming system. First, a thief is going to need to target your home, specifically. Then, he’s going to need to know the technical details of your system and acquire the specific equipment necessary for jamming your specific setup. Presumably, you keep your doors locked at night and while you’re away. So the thief will still need to break in. That means defeating the lock somehow, orbreaking a window. He’ll need to be jamming you at this point, as a broken window or opened door would normally release the alarm. So, too, would the motion detectors in your home, so the thief will need to continue jamming once he’s inside and searching for things to steal. However, he’ll need to do so without tripping the anti-jamming system, the details of which he almost certainly does now have access to.[K]At the end of the day, these kinds of systems are primarily designed to protect against the sort of opportunistic smash-and-grab attack that makes up the majority of burglaries. They’re also only a single layer in what should ideally be a many-sided approach to securing your home, one that includes common sense things like sound locks and proper exterior lighting at night. No system is impenetrable, and none can promise to eliminate the worst case completely. Every one of them has vulnerabilities that a knowledgeable thief could theoretically exploit. A good system is one that keeps that worst-case setting as improbable as possible while also offering strong protection in the event of a less-extraordinary attack.36. It is possible for burglars to make jamming attacks with the necessaryequipment and skill.37. Interfering with a wireless security system is similar to interferingwith a conversation.38. A burglar has to continuously jam the wireless security device to avoidtriggering the alarm, both inside and outside the house.39. SimpliSafe provides devices that are able to distinguish incidentalradio interference from targeted jamming attacks.40. Only a very small proportion of burglaries are committed by technical means.41. It is difficult to crack SimpliSafe as its system keeps changing.42. Wireless devices will transmit signals so as to activate the alarmonce something wrong is detected.43. Different measures should be taken to protect one’s home from burglaryin addition to the wireless security system.44. SimpliSafe’s device can send a warning to the house owner’s cellphone.45. Burglars can easily get a security device’s frequency by Internet search.Section CDirections:There are 2 passages in this section. Each passage is followed by some questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A),B),C) and D).You should decide on the best choice and mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 2 with a single line through the centre.Passage OneQuestions 46 to 50 are based on the following passage.As a person who writes about food and drink for a living. I couldn’t tell you the first thing about Bill Perry or whether the beers he sells are that great. But I can tell you that I like this guy. That’s because he plans to ban tipping in favor of paying his servers an actual living wage.I hate tipping.I hate it because it’s an obligation disguised as an option. I hate it for the post-dinner math it requires of me. But mostly, I hate tipping because I believe I would be in a better place if pay decisions regarding employees were simply left up to their employers, as is the custom in virtually every other industry.Most of you probably think that you hate tipping, too. Research suggests otherwise. You actually love tipping! You like to feel that you have a voice in how much money your server makes. No matter how the math works out, you persistently view restaurants with voluntary tipping systems as being a better value, which makes it extremely difficult for restaurants and bars to do away with the tipping system.One argument that you tend to hear a lot from the pro-tipping crowd seems logical enough: the service is better when waiters depend on tips, presumably because they see a benefit to successfully veiling their contempt for you. Well, if this were true, we would all be slipping a few 100-dollar bills to our doctors on the way out their doors, too. But as it turns out, waiters see only a tiny bump in tips when they do an exceptional job compared to a passable one. Waiters, keen observers of humanity that they are, are catching on to this; in one poll, a full 30% said they didn’t believe the job they did had any impact on the tips they received.So come on, folks: get on board with ditching the outdated tip system. Pay a little more upfront for your beer or burger. Support Bill Perry’s pub, and any other bar or restaurant that doesn’t ask you to do drunken math.46. What can we learn about Bill Perry from the passage?A) He runs a pub that serves excellent beer.B) He intends to get rid of the tipping practice.C) He gives his staff a considerable sum for tips.D) He lives comfortably without getting any tips.47. What is the main reason why the author hates tipping?A) It sets a bad example for other industries.B) It adds to the burden of ordinary customers.C) It forces the customer to compensate the waiter.D) It poses a great challenge for customers to do math.48. Why do many people love tipping according to the author?A) They help improve the quality of the restaurants they dine in.B) They believe waiters deserve such rewards for good service.C) They want to preserve a wonderful tradition of the industry.D) They can have some say in how much their servers earn.49. What have some waiters come to realize according to a survey?A) Service quality has little effect on tip size.B) It is in human mature to try to save on tips.C) Tips make it more difficult to please customers.D) Tips benefit the boss rather that the employees.50. What does the author argue for in the passage?A) Restaurants should calculate the tips for customers.B) Customers should pay more tips to help improve service.C) Waiters deserve better than just relying on tips for a living.D) Waiters should be paid by employers instead of customers.Passage TwoQuestions 51 to 55 are based on the following passage.In the past, falling oil prices have given a boost to the world economy, but recent forecasts for global growth have been toned down, even as oil prices sink lower and lower. Does that mean the link between lower oil prices and growth has weakened?Some experts say there are still good reasons to believe cheap oil should heat up the world economy. Consumers have more money in their pockets when they’re paying less at the pump. They spend that money on other things, which stimulates the economy.The biggest gains go to countries that import most of their oil like China, Japan, and India, But doesn’t the extra money in the pockets of those countries’ consumers mean an equal loss in oil producing countries, cancelling out the gains? Not necessarily, says economic researcher Sara Johnson. “Many oil producers built up huge reserve funds when prices were high, so when prices fall they will draw on their reserves to support government spending and subsidies(补贴) for their consumers.”But not all oil producers have big reserves, In Venezuela, collapsing oil prices have sent its economy into free-fall.Economist Carl Weinberg believes the negative effects of plunging oil prices are overwhelming the positive effects of cheaper oil. The implication is a sharp decline in global trade, which has plunged partly because oil-producing nations can’t afford to import as much as they used to.Sara Johnson acknowledges that the global economic benefit from a fall in oil prices today is likely lower than it was in the past. One reason is that more countries are big oil producers now, so the nations suffering from the price drop account for a larger share of the global economy.Consumers, in the U.S. at least, are acting cautiously with the savings they’re getting at the gas pump, as the memory of the recent great recession is still fresh in their mind. And a number of oil-producing countries are trimming their gasoline subsidies and raising taxes, so the net savings for global consumers is not as big as the oil price plunge might suggest.51. What does the author mainly discuss in the passage?A) The reasons behind the plunge of oil prices.B) Possible ways to stimulate the global economy.C) The impact of cheap oil on global economic growth.D) The effect of falling oil prices on consumer spending.52. Why do some experts believe cheap oil will stimulate the global economy?A) Manufacturers can produce consumer goods at a much lower cost.B) Lower oil prices have always given a big boost to the global economy.C) Oil prices may rise or fall but economic laws are not subject to change.D) Consumers will spend their saving from cheap oil on other commodities.53. What happens in many oil-exporting countries when oil prices go down?A) They suspend import of necessities from overseas.B) They reduce production drastically to boost oil prices.C) They use their money reserves to back up consumption.D) They try to stop their economy from going into free-fall.54. How does Carl Weinberg view the current oil price plunge?A) It is one that has seen no parallel in economic history.B) Its negative effects more than cancel out its positive effects.C) It still has a chance to give rise to a boom in the global economy.D) Its effects on the global economy go against existing economic laws.55. Why haven’t falling oil prices boosted the global economy as they did before?A) People are not spending all the money they save on gas.B) The global economy is likely to undergo another recession.C) Oil importers account for a larger portion of the global economy.D) People the world over are afraid of a further plunge in oil prices.Part IV Translation (30minutes)Directions: For this part,you are allowed 30minutes to transtate a passage from Chinese into English.You should write your answer on Answer Sheet 2.在中国文化中，红色通常象征着好运、长寿和幸福，在春节和其他喜庆场合，红色到处可见。

四六级真题解析2016年12月四级第1套

2016年12月大学英语四级真题（第1套）Directions: In this section, you will hear three news reports. At the end of each news report, you will hear two or three questions. Both the news report and the questions will be spoken only once. After you hear a question, you must choose the best answer from the four choices marked A), B), C) and D).Questions 1 and 2 are based on the news report you have just heard.听力原文：A 16th century castle in Scotland is close to collapsing after lumps of soil were washed away by floods, threatening its foundations. On Sunday, the castle's owner John Gordon, 76, was forced to move out of his property after the River Dee swept away about 60 feet of land, leaving the castle dangerously close to the river, according to the Scottish Daily Record.Abergeldie Castle, located in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, was built by Sir Alexander Gordon of Midmar who later became the Earl of Huntly. The castle, which is located on 11,700 acres, was leased to members of the royal family between 1848 and 1970, including King Edward VII and George V. The Scottish Environment Protection Agency has issued more than 35 flood warnings covering several regions, as Scotland continues to clean up after Storm Frank hit the country last Wednesday. “This means that rivers will rise more slowly, but then stay high for much longer, ” the environmental agency said.Questions 1 and 2 are based on the news report you have just heard.1. Why did John Gordon move out of the Abergeldie Castle?2. What happened in Scotland last Wednesday?音频：翻译：在大量土壤被洪水冲走，地基受到严重威胁之后，苏格兰的一座16世纪的城堡即将崩塌。

2016年12月英语四级真题及答案第一套

2016年12月英语四级真题及答案第一套Part I Writing (30minutes)(请于正式开考后半小时内完成该部分，之后将进行听力考试)Directions:For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write anessay .Suppose you are two options upon graduation: one is to take a job in a company and the other to go to a graduate school. You are to make a choice between the two. Write an essay to explain the reasons for your choice. You should write at least 120 words but no more than 180 words.PARTⅢReading Comprehension (40 minutes)Section ADirections: In this section, there is a passage with ten blanks. You are required to select oneword for each blank from a list of choices given in a word bank following the passage.Read the passage through carefully before making your choices. Each choice in the bank is identified by a letter. Please mark the corresponding letter for each item on Answer Sheet 2 with a single line through the centre. You may not use any of the words in the bank more than once.Many men and women have long bought into the idea that thereare“male”and“female”brains,believing that explains just about every difference between the sexes.A new study 26 that belief, questioning whether brains really can be distinguished by gender.In the study, Tel Aviv University researchers 27 for sex differences throughout the entire human brainAnd what did they find? Not much. Rather than offer evidence for 28 brains as “male” or“female”,research shows that brains fall into a wide range , with most people falling right in the middle.Daphna Joel ,who led the study, said her research found that while there are some gender‐based 29 ,many different types of brain can’t always be distinguished by gender.While the “average”male and“average”female brains were 30different, you couldn’t tell it by looking a t individual brain scans. Only a small 31of people had “all-male”or“all-female”characteristics.Larry Cahill, an American neuroscientist(神经科学家)，said the study is an important addition to a growing body of research questioning 32 beliefs about gender and brain function. But he cautioned against concluding from this study that all brains are the same, 33 of gender.“There’s a mountain of evidence 34 the importance of sex influences at all levels of brain function ,”he told The Seattle Times.If anything, he said, the study 35that gender plays a very importantrole in the brain—“even when we are not clear exactly how.”A) abnormalB) appliedC) brieflyD) categorizingE)challengesF)figureG)percentageH)provingI) regardlessJ) searchedK) similaritiesL)slightlyM) suggestsN)tastesO)traditionalSection BDirections:In this section, you are gonging to read a passage with ten statements attached to it. Each statement contains information given in one of the paragraphs. Identify theparagraph from which the information is derived. You may choose a paragraphmore than once.Each paragraph is marked with a letter. Answer the questions by marking the corresponding letter on Answer sheet 2.Can Burglars Jam Your wireless Security System?[A] Any product that promises to protect your home deserves careful examination. So it isn’t surprising that you’ll find plenty of strong opinion about the potential vulnerabilities of popular home-security systems.[B] The most likely type of burglary(入室盗窃) by far is the unsophisticated crime of opportunity, usually involving a broken or some forced entry. According to the FBI, crimes like these accounted for roughly two-thirds of allhousehold burglaries in the US in 2003. The wide majority of the rest were illegal, unforced entries that resulted from something like a window being left open. The FBI doesn’t even track those statistics.[C] One of the main theoretical home-security concerns is whether or not a given system is vulnerable to being blocked from working altogether. With wired setups, the fear is that a burglar(入室盗窃)might be able to shut your system down simply by cutting the right cable. With a wireless setup, you stick battery-powered sensor up around your home that keeps an eye on windows, doors, motion, and more. If they detect something wrong while the system is armed,they’ll transmit a wireless alert signal to aa base station that will then raise the alarm. Thatapproach will eliminate most cord-cutting concerns-but what about their wireless equivalent, jamming? With the right device tuned to the right frequency, what’s to stop a thief from jamming your setup and blocking that alert signal from ever reaching the base station?[D] Jamming concerns are nothing new, and they’re not unique to security systems. Any deviceThat’s built to receive a wireless signal at a specific can be overwhelmed by a stronger signal coming in on the same frequency. For comparison, let’s say you wanted to “jam” a conversation between two people-all you’d need to do is yell in the listener’s ear.[E] Security devices are required to list the frequencies they broadcaston-that means that a potential thief can find what they need to know with minimal Googling. They will, however, need to know what system they’ a re looking for. If you have a sign in your yard declaring what setup you use, that’d point them in the right direction, thought at that point, we’ are talking about a highly targeted, semi-sophisticated attack, and not the sort of forced-entry attack that makes up the majority of burglaries. It’s easier to find and acquire jamming equipment for some frequencies than it is for others.[F] Wireless security providers will often take steps to help combat the threat of jamming attacks. SimpliSafe, winner of o ur Editors’ Choice distinction, utilizes a special system that’s capable of separating incidental RF interference form targeted jamming attacks. When the system thinks it’s being jammed, it’ll notify you via push alert (推送警报). From there, it’s up to you to sound the alarm manually.[G] SimpliSafe was singled out in one recent article on jamming, complete with a video showing the entire system being effectively bypassed with handheld jamming equipment .After taking appropriate measure to contain the RF interference to our test lab, we tested the attack out for ourselves, and were able to verify that it’ is possible with the right equipment. However, we also verified that SimpliSafe’s anti-jamming system words. It caught us in the act, sent an alert to my smartphone, and also listed our RF interference on the system’s event log. The team behind the article and video in question make no mention of the system, or whether or not it detected them.[H] We like the unique nature of that software. It means that a thief likely wouldn’t be able to Google how the system words, then figure out a way around it. Even if they could, SimpliSafe claims that its system is always evolving, and that it varies slightly form system to system, which means there wouldn’t be a univ ersal magic formula for cracking it. Other systems also seem confident on the subject of jamming. The team at Frontpoint addresses the issue in a blog on its site, citing their own jam protection software and claiming that there aren’t any documented cases of a successful jam attack since the company began offering wireless security sensors in the 1980s.[I] Jamming attacks are absolutely possible. As said before, with the right equipment and the right know-how, it’s possible to jam any wireless transmission. But how probable is it that someone will successfully jam theirway into your home and steal your stuff?[J] Let’s imagine that you live in a small home with a wireless security setup that offers a functional anti-jamming system. First, a thief is going to need to target your home, specifically.Then, he’s going to need to know the technical details of your system and acquire the specific equipment necessary for jamming your specific setup. Presumably, you keep your doors locked at night and while you’re away, so the thief will still need to break in. That means defeating the lock somehow, or breaking a window .He’ll need to be jamming you at this point, as a broken window or opened door would normally release the alarm .So, too, would the motion detectors in your home, so the thief will need to continue jamming once he’s inside and searching for things to steal. However, he’ll need to do so without tripping the anti-jamming system, the details of which he almost certainly does not have access to.[K] At the end of the day, these kinds of systems are primarily designed to protect against the sort of opportunistic smash-and-grab attack that makes up the majority of burglaries. They’re also only a single layer in what should ideally be a many-sided approach to securing your home, one that includes common sense things like sound locks and proper exploit lighting at night. No system is impenetrable, and none can promise to eliminate the worst case completely. Every one of them has vulnerabilities that a knowledgeable thief could theoretically exploit. A good system is one that keeps that worst-case setting as improbable as possible while also offering strong protection in the event of a less-extraordinary attack.36. It is possible for burglars to make jamming attacks with the necessary equipment and skill.37. Interfering with a wireless security system is similar to interfering witha conversation.38. A burglar has to continuously jam the wireless security device to avoid triggering the alarm, both inside and outside the house.39. SimpliSafe provides devices that are able to distinguish incidental radio interference from targeted jamming attacks.40. Only a very small proportion of burglaries are committed by technical means.41. It is difficult to crack SimpliSafe as its system keeps changing.42. Wireless devices will transmit signals so as to activate the alarm once something wrong is detected.43. Different measures should be taken to protect one’s home from burglary in addition to the wireless security system.44. SimpliSafe’s device can send a warning to the house owner’s cellphone.45.Burglars can easily get a security device’s frequency by Internetsearch.Section CDirections:There are 2 passages in this section .Each passage is followed by some questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices maked A),B),C)and D).You should decide on the best choice and mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet2 with a single line through the centre.Passage OneQuestions 46 to 50 are based on the following passage.As a person who writers about food and drink for a living, I couldn’t tell you the first thing about Bill Perry or whether the beers he sells are that great. But I can tell you that I like this guy. That’s because he plans to ban tipping in favor of paying his servers an actual living wage.I hate tipping.I hate it because it’s an obligation disguised as an option. I hate it for the post-dinner math it requires of me. But mostly, I hate tipping because I believe I would be in a better place if pay decisions regarding employees were simply left up to their employers, as is the custom in virtually every other industry.Most of you probably think that you hate tipping, too. Research suggest otherwise. You actually love tipping! You like to feel that you have a voice in how much money you server makes. No matter how the math works out, you persistently view restaurants with voluntary tipping systems as being a letter value, which makes it extremely difficult for restaurants and bars to do away with the tipping system.One argument that you tend to hear a lot from the pro-tipping crowd seems logical enough: the service is better when waiters depend on tips, presumably because they see a benefit to successfully veiling their contempt for you .Well , if this were true we would all be slipping a few 100 dollar bills to our doctors on the way out their doors, too. But as it turns out, waiters see only a tiny bump in tips when they do an exceptional job compared to a passableone. Waiters, keen observers of humanity that they are , are catching on to this; in one poll, a full 30% said they didn’t believe the job they did any impact on the tips they received.So come on, folks: get on board with ditching the outdated tip system. Pay a little more up –front for your beer or burger. Support Bill Perry’s pub, and any other bar or restaurant that doesn’t ask you to do drunken math.46. What can we learn about Bill Perry from the passage?A) He runs a pub that serves excellent beer.B) He intends to get rid of the tipping practice.C) He gives his staff a considerable sum for tips.D) He lives comfortably without getting any tips.47. What is the main reason why the author hates tipping?A) It sets a bad example for other industries.B) It adds to the burden of ordinary customers.C) It forces the customer to compensate the waiter.D) It poses a great challenge for customers to do math.48. Why do many people love tipping according to the author?A) They help improve the quality of the restaurants they dine in.B) They believe waiters deserve such rewards for good service.C) They want to preserve a wonderful tradition of the industry.D) They can have some say in how much their servers earn.49. What have some waiters come to realize according to a survey?A) Service quality has little effect on tip size.B) It is in human nature to try to save on tips.C) Tips make it more difficult to please customers.D) Tips benefit the boss rather than the employees.50. What does the author argue for in the passage?A) Restaurants should calculate the tips for customers.B) Customers should pay more tips to help improve service.C) Waiters deserve better than just relying on tips for a living.D) Waiters should be paid by employers instead of customers.Passage TwoQuestions 51 to 55 are based on the following passage.In the past, falling oil prices have given a boost to the world economy, but recent forecasts for global growth have been toned down, even as oil pricessink lower and lower. Does that mean the link between lower oil prices and growth has weakened?Some experts say there are still good reasons to believe cheap oil should heat up the world economy. Consumers have more money in their pockets when they’re paying less at the pump. They spend that money on other things, which stimulates the economy.The biggest gains go to countries that import most of their oil like China,Japan，and India.But doesn’t th e extra money in the pockets of those countries’ consumers mean an equal loss in oil-producing countries, cancelling out the gains? Not necessarily,says economic researcher Sara Johnson. “Many oil producers built up huge reserve funds when prices were high, so when prices fall they will draw on their reserves to support spend and subsidies(补贴)for their consumers.”But not all oil producers have big reserves. In Venezuela, collapsing oil prices have sent its economy into free-fall.Economist Carl Weinberg believes the negative effects of plunging oil prices are overwhelming the positive effects of cheaper oil. The implication is a sharp decline in global trade, which has plunged partly because oil-producing nations cant’s afford to import as much as they used to.Sara Johnson acknowledges that the global economic benefit from a fall in oil prices today is likely lower than it was in the past. One reason is that more countries are big oil producers now, so the nations suffering from the prices drop account for a larger share of the global economy.Consumers, in the U.S. at least, acting cautiously with the savings they’re getting at the gas pump, as the memory of the recent great recession is still fresh in their mind. And a number of oil-producing countries are trimming their gasoline subsidies and raising taxes, so the net savings for global consumers is not as big as the oil price plunge might suggest.51. What does the author mainly discuss in the passage?A)The reasons behind the plunge of oil prices.B)Possible ways to stimulate the global economy.C)The impact of cheap oil on global economic growth.D)The effect of falling oil prices on consumer spending.52. Why do some experts believe cheap oil will stimulate the global economy?A) Manufacturers can produce consumer goods at a much lower cost.B) Lower oil prices have always given a big boost to the global economy.C) Oil prices may rise or fall but economic laws are not subject to change.D) Consumers will spend their saving from cheap oil on other commodities.53. What happens in many oil-exporting countries when oil prices go down?A)They suspend import of necessities from overseas.B)They reduce production drastically to boost oil prices.C)They use their money reserves to back up consumption.D)They try to stop their economy from going into free-fall.54. How does Carl Weinberg view the current oil price plunge?A) It is one that has seen no parallel in economic history.B) Its negative effects more than cancel out its positive effects.C) It still has a chance to give rise to a boom in the global economy.D) Its effects on the global economy go against existing economic laws.55. Why haven’t falling oil prices boosted the global economy as they did before?A) People are not spending all the money they save on gas.B) The global economy is likely to undergo another recession.C)Oil importers account for a larger portion of the global economy.D)People the world over are afraid of a further plunge in oil prices.Part IVTranslation (30 minutes)Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30minutes to translate a passage from Chinese into English .You should write your answer on Answer Sheet 2.在中国文化中，红色通常象征着好运、长寿和幸福。

12月英语四级考试（卷一）真题及答案

12月英语四级考试（卷一）真题及答案2016年12月英语四级考试(卷一)真题及答案2016年12月大学英语四级考试如期举行，为帮助考生们及时查看试题答案，以下是店铺搜索整理的`一份2016年12月英语四级(卷一)真题答案，希望对大家有所帮助!想了解更多相关信息请持续关注我们店铺!写作【题目】Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write an essay. Suppose you have two options upon graduation: one is to take a job in a company and the other to go to a graduate school. You are to make a choice between the two. Write an essay to explain the reasons for your choice. You should write at least 120 words but no more than 180 words.【参考范文】For undergraduates college students, deciding what to do upon graduation can be a tough decision to say the least. From my point of view, I prefer to pursuing postgraduate students. My choice can be attributed to the following two driving forces.For one thing, I want to continue my studies for their own sake because I love what I am doing. In fact, having a passion for my subject is possibly the best reason to go into postgraduate education. For another thing, entering into a postgraduate school, I can improve my job prospects. Specializing at postgraduate level can make you a stronger job applicant.Actually, when in comes time for university graduates to decide their next step in life, there is no on right or wrong choice for everyone. Rather, each students must reach his or her own conclusion.词汇理解Section A26. [E] challenges27. [J] searched28. [D] categorizing29. [K] similarities30. [L] slightly31. [G] percentage32. [O] traditional33. [ I ] regardless34. [H] proving35. [M] suggests翻译Directions:For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to translate a passage from Chinese into English. You should write your answer on Answer Sheet 2.随着中国的改革开放，如今很多年轻人都喜欢举行西式婚礼。

2016年12月大学英语四级考试真题及答案-（35499）

2016年12月大学英语四级考试真题及答案-（35499）2016 年 12 月大学英语四级考试真题（第一套）Part I Writing (30 minutes)( 请于正式开考后半小时内完成该部分，之后将进行听力考试 )Directions:For this part,you are allowed30 minutes to write an essay.Suppose you have two options upon graduation:one is to take a job in a company and the other to go to a graduate school.You are to make a choice between the two.Write an essay to explain the reasons for your choice. You should write at least 120 words but nomore than 180 words.Much controversy has been aroused about whether the students should find a job or start their own business after graduation.Taking a look around,we can find that some graduates bustle around job markets,while others choose to run a shop on TMall. However, I prefer the former choice.From my perspective, there are good reasons to find a job in the first severalyears after their graduation.First and foremost, if a graduate intends to accumulate working experience and learn from the seniors, it is advisable for him to find ajob. It is an undeniable fact that the theoretical knowledge will provide thegraduates with the ability to consider things comprehensively,however,only under the integration with practice can the rigid knowledge be useful for their future development. Inevitably, doing something small is the premise of undertakingsomething great. Take Jack Ma, the founder of Alibaba and taobao, for example. Healso finds some jobs before establishing his own career,laying a solid foundation for his later success.Consequently,it is of great necessity to find a job after graduation.I firmly believe that it will continue to bring about more returns to our life and future.Part II Listening Comprehension (25 minutes)Section ADirections: In this section, you will hear three news reports. At the end of each news report, you will hear two or three questions. Both the news report and the questions will be spoken only once. After you hear a question, you must choose the best answer from the four choices marked A), B), C) and D). Then mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 1 with a single line through the centre.Questions 1 and 2 are based on the news report you have just heard.1.A) It was going to be renovated.B) He could no longer pay the rent.C) It was dangerous to live in.D) He had sold it to the royal family.【答案】 C2.A) A storm.B) A strike.C) A forest fire.D) A terrorist attack.【答案】 AQuestions 3 and 4 are based on the news report you have just heard.3.A) They lost contact with the emergency department.B)They were injured by suddenly falling rocks.C)They sent calls for help via a portable radio.D)They were trapped in an underground elevator.【答案】 D4.A) They provided the miners with food and water.B)They sent supplies to keep the miners warm.C)They released the details of the accident.D)They tried hard to repair the elevator.【答案】 BQuestions 5 to 7 are based on the news report you have just heard.5.A) Raise postage rates.B) Improve its services.C)Close some of its post offices.D)Redesign delivery routes.【答案】 C6.A) Closing offices on holidays.B)Shortening business hours.C)Computerizing mail sorting processes.D)Stopping mail delivery on Saturdays.【答案】 D7.A) A lot of controversy will arise.B)Taxpayers will be very pleased.C)Many people will begin to complain.D)Many post office staff will lose their jobs.【答案】 DSection BDirections: In this section, you will hear two long conversations. At the end of each conversation, you will hear fourquestions. Both the conversation and the questions will be spoken only once. After you hear a question, you must choose the best answer from the four choices marked A), B)y C) and D). Then mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 1 with a single line through the centre.Questions 8 to 11 are based on the conversation you have just heard.8.A) He will lose part of his pay.B)He will go through retraining.C)He will be given a warning.D)He will be kept from promotion.【答案】 A9.A) He is an experienced press operator.B)He is a trustworthy guy.C)He is always on time.D)He is on good terms with his workmates.【答案】 B10.A) She is a trade union representative.B)She is a senior manager of the shop.C)She is better at handling such matters.D)She is in charge of public relations.【答案】 C11.A) He is always trying to stir up trouble.B)He is skilled and experienced.C)He is very close to the manager.D)He is always complaining about low wages.【答案】 AQuestions 12 to 15 are based on the conversation you have just heard.12.A) Open.B)Reserved.C)Selfish.D)Friendly.【答案】 B13.A) They read a book.B)They talk about the weather.C)They stay quiet.D)They chat with fellow passengers.【答案】 C14.A) She was unwilling to make friends with workmates.B) She was never invited to a colleague’ s home.C)She was eager to visit an English castle.D)She was always treated as a foreigner.【答案】 B15.A) Houses are much more quiet.B)They want to have more space.C)They want a garden of their own.D)Houses provide more privacy.【答案】 DSection CDirections: In this section, you will hear three passages. At the end of eachpassage, you will hear three or four questions.Both the passage and the questions will be spoken only once. After you hear a question, you must choose the best answer from the four choices marked A), B), C) and D). Then mark the corresponding letteron Answer Sheet 1 with a single line through the centre.Questions 16 to 18 are based on the passage you have just heard.16.A) They will automatically be given hiring priority.B)They don ’ t have to go through job interviews.C)They are likely to get much higher pay.D)They don ’ t have much choice of jobs.【答案】 A17.A) Visit the school careers service.B)Ask their professors for help.C)Look at school bulletin boards.D)Go through campus newspapers.【答案】 A18.A) Providing students with information about the library.B)Helping students arrange appointments with librarians.C)Supervising study spaces to ensure a quiet atmosphere.D)Helping students find the books and journals they need.【答案】 CQuestions 19 to 21 are based on the passage you have just heard.19.A) It tastes better.B)It may be sold at a higher price.C)It is easier to grow.D)It can better survive extreme weathers.【答案】 B20. A) It can grow in drier soil.B)It is immune to various diseases.C)It will replace green tea one day.D)It is healthier than green tea.【答案】 D21. A) It does not have a stable market.B) It has made tea farmers’ life easier.C)It does not bring the promised health benefits.D)It has been well received by many tea drinkers.【答案】 AQuestions 22 to 25 are based on the passage you have just heard.22.A) They care more about environment.B)They decorate their homes themselves.C)They prefer unique objects of high quality.D)They need decorations to show their status.【答案】 C23.A) They made great contributions to society.B) They could only try to create at night.C)They were proud of their creations.D)They focused on the quality of their products.【答案】 B24.A) Identify fake crafts.B)Make wise choices.C)To arouse public interest in crafts.D)To boost the local economy.【答案】 B25.A) To attract foreign investments.B)To preserve the traditional culture.C)Design handicrafts themselves.D)Learn the importance of creation.【答案】 DPart III Reading Comprehension (40 minutes)Section ADirections:In this section, there is a passage with ten blanks. You are required to select one word for each blank from a list of choices given in a word bank following the passage. Read the passage through carefully before making your choices. Eachchoice in the bank is identified by a letter.Please mark the corresponding letterfor each item on Answer Sheet 2 with a single line through the centre. You may notuse any of the words in the bank more than once.Many men and women have long bought into the idea that there are“ male” and “female” brains,believing that explains just about every difference between the sexes. A new study __26__ that belief, questioning whether brains really can be distinguished by gender.In the study, Tel Aviv University researchers __27__ for sex differencesthroughout the entire human brain.27._____A)abnormalB)appliedC)brieflyD)categorizingE)challengesF)figureG)percentageH)provingI)regardlessJ)searchedK)similaritiesL)slightlyM)suggestsN)tastesO)traditionalAnd what did they find? Not much. Rather than offerevidence for __28__ brains as “ male” or“ female,” research shows that b rains fall into a wide range, with most people falling right in the middle.28._____A) abnormalB) appliedC) brieflyD) categorizingE) challengesF) figureG) percentageH) provingI) regardlessJ) searchedK) similaritiesL) slightlyM) suggestsN) tastesO) traditionalDaphna Joel, who led the study, said her research found that while there aresome gender-based—__29__ , many different types of brain can’ t always be distinguished by gender.29._____A) abnormalB) appliedC) brieflyD) categorizingE) challengesF) figureG) percentageH)provingI)regardlessJ)searchedK)similaritiesL)slightlyM)suggestsN)tastesO)traditionalWhile the “average ” male and “ average ” female brains were __30__ different, you couldn ’ t tell it by looking at individual brain scans. Only a small __31__ ofpeople had“ all-male” or“ all-female” characteristics.30._____31._____A)abnormalB)appliedC)brieflyD)categorizingE)challengesF)figureG)percentageH)provingI)regardlessJ)searchedK)similaritiesL)slightlyM)suggestsN)tastesO)traditionalLarry Cahill, an American neuroscientist (神经科学家), said the study is an important addition to a growing body of research questioning __32__ beliefs aboutgender and brain function.But he cautioned against concluding from this study that all brains are the same, __33__ of gender.32._____33._____A)abnormalB)appliedC)brieflyD)categorizingE)challengesF)figureG)percentageH)provingI)regardlessJ)searchedK)similaritiesL)slightlyM)suggestsN)tastesO)traditional“There’ s a mountain of ev idence __34__ the importance of sex influences at alllevels of brain function, M he told The Seattle Times.34._____A) abnormalB)appliedC)brieflyD)categorizingE)challengesF)figureG)percentageH)provingI)regardlessJ)searchedK)similaritiesL)slightlyM)suggestsN)tastesO)traditionalIf anything, he said, the study __35__ that gender plays a very important role in the brain—“ even when we are not clear exactly how.”35._____A)abnormalB)appliedC)brieflyD)categorizingE)challengesF)figureG)percentageH)provingI)regardlessJ)searchedK)similaritiesL)slightlyM)suggestsN)tastesO)traditionalSection 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 aparagraph more than once. Each paragraph is marked with a letter. Answer thequestions by marking the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 2.Can Burglars Jam Your Wireless Security System?A)Any product that promises to protect your home deserves careful examination. So it isn't surprising that you ’ll find plenty of strong opinions about the potential vulnerabilities of popular home-security systems.B)The most likely type of burglary(入室盗窃)by far is the unsophisticated crime of opportunity, usually involving a broken window or some forced entry. Accordingto the FBI, crimes like these accounted for roughly two-thirds of all householdburglaries in the US in 2013. The wide majority of the rest were illegal, unforcedentries that resulted from something like a window being left open. The odds ofcriminal using technical means to bypass a security system are so small that theFBI doesn ’ t even track those statistics.C)One of the main theoretical home-security concerns is whether or not a given system is vulnerable to being blockedfrom working altogether. With wired setups,the fear is that a burglar(入室盗贼 )might be able to shut your system down simplyby cutting the right cable.With a wireless setup,you stick battery-powered sensors up around your home that keep an eye on windows, doors, motion, and more. If theydetect something wrong while the system is armed, they ’ ll transmit a wireless alert signal to a base station that will then raise the alarm.That approach will eliminate most cord-cutting concerns —but what about their wireless equivalent,jamming? With the right device tuned to the right frequency,what ’ s to stop a thief from jamming your setup and blocking that alert signal from ever reaching the base station?D)Jamming concerns are nothing new, and they ’ re not unique to security systems. Any device that ’ s built to receive a wireless signal at a specific frequency canbe overwhelmed by a stronger signal coming in on the same frequency.For comparison, let ’ s say you wanted to“ jam ” a conversation between two people —all you’ d need to do is yell in the listener’ s ear.E)Security devices are required to list the frequencies they broadcast on—that means that a potential thief can find what they need to know with minimalGoogling. They will,however,need to know what system they ’ re looking for. If you have a sign in your yard declaring what setup you use, that’ d point them in theright direct ion, though at that point, we’ re talking about a highly targeted,semi-sophisticated attack, and not the sort of forced-entry attack that makes upthe majority of burglaries.It’ s easier to find and acquire jamming equipment for some frequencies than it is for others.F)Wireless security providers will often take steps to help combat the threatof jamming attacks.SimpliSafe,winner of our Editors ’ Choice distinction,utilizesa special system that’ s capable of separating incidental RF interference fromtargeted jamming attacks.When the system thinks it’ s being jammed, it ’ ll notify you via push alert( 推送警报 ).From there,it’s up to you to sound the alarm manually.G)SimpliSafe was singled out in one recent article on jamming, complete witha video showing the entire system being effectively bypassed with handheld jamming equipment. After taking appropriate measure to contain the RF interference to ourtest lab, we tested the attack out for ourselves, and were able to verify that itis possible with the right equipment. However, we also verified that SimpliSafe’s anti-jamming system works. It caught us in the act,sent an alert to my smartphone, and also listed our RF interference on the system ’ s event log. The team behind the article and video in question make no mention of the system, or whether or not itdetected them.H)We like the unique nature of that software. It means that a thief likely wouldn ’t be able to Google how the system works, then figure out a way around itEven if they could, SimpliSafe claims that its system is alwaysevolving, and thatit varies slightly from system to system, which means there wouldn ’ t be a universal magic formula for cracking it Other systems also seem confident on the subject ofjamming. The team at Frontpoint addresses the issue in a blog on its site, citingtheir own jam protection software and claiming that there aren’ t any documented cases of a successful jam attack since the company began offering wireless security sensors in the 1980s.I)Jamming attacks are absolutely possible. As said before, with the rightequipment and the right know-how,it’ s possible to jam any wireless transmission. But how probable is it that someone will successfully jam their way into your homeand steal your stuff?J)Let ’ s imagine that you live in a small home with a wireless security setup that offers a functional anti-jamming system. First, a thief is going to need totarget your home, specifically. Then, he’s going to need to know the technicaldetails of your system and acquire the specific equipment necessary for jamming your specific setup. Presumably, you keep your doors locked at night and while you'reaway, so the thief will still need to break in.That means defeating the lock somehow,or breaking a window. He’ ll or opened door would normally need to be jamming you at thisrelease the alarm. So, too,point, as a broken windowwould the motion detectorsin your home, so the thief will need to continue jamming once he’s inside and searching for things to steal. However, he’ll need to do so without tripping theanti-jamming system, the details of which he almost certainly does not have access to.K) At the end of the day, these kinds of systems are primarily designed to protect against the sort of opportunistic smash-and-grab attack that makes up the majority of burglaries.They’re also only a single layer in what should ideally be a many-sided approach to securing your home, one that includes common sense things like soundlocks and proper exterior lighting at night. No system is impenetrable, and nonecan promise to eliminate the worst case completely. Every one of them hasvulnerabilities that a knowledgeable thief could theoretically exploit. A goodsystem is one that keeps that worst-case setting as improbable as possible whilealso offering strong protection in the event of a less-extraordinary attack.36.It is possible for burglars to make jamming attacks with the necessaryequipment and skill.【答案】 I37.Interfering with a wireless security system is similar to interfering witha conversation.【答案】 D38.A burglar has to continuously jam the wireless security device toavoid triggering the alarm, both inside and outside the house.【答案】 J39.SimpliSafe provides devices that are able to distinguish incidental radiointerference from targeted jamming attacks.【答案】 F40.Only a very small proportion of burglaries are committed by technical means.【答案】 B41.It is difficult to crack SimpliSafe as its system keeps changing.【答案】 H42.Wireless devices will transmit signals so as to activate the alarm oncesomething wrong is detected.【答案】 C43.Different measures should be taken to protect one’ s home from burglary in addition to the wireless security system.【答案】 K44.SimpliSafe’ s device can send a warning to the house owner’s cellphone.【答案】 G45.Burglars can easily get a security device ’s frequency by Internet search.【答案】 ESection CDirections: There are 2 passages in this section. Each passageis followed bysome questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choicesmarked A), B) , C) and D). You should decide on the best choice and mark thecorresponding letter on Answer Sheet 2 with a single line through the centre.Passage OneQuestions 46 to 50 are based on the following passage.As a person who writes about food and drink for a living, I couldn ’ t tell you the first thing about Bill Perry or whether the beers he sells are that great. ButI can tell you that I like this guy. That ’ s because he plans to ban tipping in favor of paying his servers an actual living wage.I hate tipping.I hate it because it’ s an obligation disguised as an option.I hate it forthe post-dinner math it requires of me. But mostly,I hate tipping because I believe I would be in a better place if pay decisions regarding employees were simply leftup to their employers, as is the custom in virtually every other industry.Most of you probably think that you hate tipping, too. Research suggestsotherwise.You actually love tipping!You like to feel that you have a voice in how much money your server makes. No matter how the math works out, you persistentlyview restaurants with voluntary tipping systems as being a better value, which makes it extremely difficult for restaurants and bars to do away with the tipping system.One argument that you tend to hear a lot from the pro-tipping crowd seems logical enough:the service is better when waiters depend on tips,presumably because they see a benefit to successfully veiling their contempt for you. Well, if this were true,we would all be slipping a few 100-dollar bills to our doctors on the way out their doors, too. But as it turns out, waiters see only a tiny bump in tips whenthey do an exceptional job compared to a passable one. Waiters, keen observers ofhumanity that they are, are catching on to this; in one poll, a full 30% said theydidn ’ t believe the job they did had any impact on the tips they received.So come on, folks: get on board with ditching the outdated tip system. Pay alittle more up-front for your beer or burger. Supp ort Bill Perry’ s pub, and any other bar or restaurant that doesn’ t ask you to do drunken math.46.What can we learn about Bill Perry from the passage?A)He runs a pub that serves excellent beer.B)He intends to get rid of the tipping practice.C)He gives his staff a considerable sum for tips.D)He lives comfortably without getting any tips.【答案】 B47.What is the main reason why the author hates tipping?A)It sets a bad example for other industries.B)It adds to the burden of ordinary customers.C)It forces the customer to compensate the waiter.D)It poses a great challenge for customers to do math.【答案】 C48.Why do many people love tipping according to the author?A)They help improve the quality of the restaurants they dine in.B)They believe waiters deserve such rewards for good service.C)They want to preserve a wonderful tradition of the industry.D)They can have some say in how much their servers earn.【答案】 D49.What have some waiters come to realize according to a survey?A)Service quality has little effect on tip size.B)It is in human nature to try to save on tips.C)Tips make it more difficult to please customers.D)Tips benefit the boss rather than the employees.【答案】 A50.What does the author argue for in the passage?A)Restaurants should calculate the tips for customers.B)Customers should pay more tips to help improve service.C)Waiters deserve better than just relying on tips for a living.D)Waiters should be paid by employers instead of customers.【答案】 DPassage TwoQuestions 51 to 55 are based on the following passage.In the past, falling oil prices have given a boost to the world economy, but recent forecasts for global growth have been toned down, even as oil prices sink lower and lower. Does that mean the link between lower oil prices and growth has weakened?Some experts say there are still good reasons to believe cheap oil should heat up the world economy. Consumers have more money in their pockets when they ’ re paying less at the pump. They spend that money on other things,which stimulatesthe economy.The biggest gains go to countries that import most of their oil like China,Japan, and India. But doesn’ t the extra money in the pockets of those countries,consumers mean an equal loss in oil-producing countries,cancelling out the gains? Not necessarily,says economic researcher Sara Johnson.“Many oil producers built up huge reserve funds when prices were high, so when prices fall they will draw ontheir reserves to support government spending and subsidies (补贴)for their consumers. ”But not all oil producers have big reserves. In Venezuela, collapsing oil prices have sent its economy into free-fall.Economist Carl Weinberg believes the negative effects of plunging oil pricesare overwhelming the positive effects of cheaper oil. The implication is a sharpdecline in global trade, which has plunged partly because oil- producing nationscan’ t afford to import as much as they used to.Sara Johnson acknowledges that the global economic benefit from a fall in oilprices today is likely lower than it was in the past. One reason is that more countries are big oil producers now, so the nations suffering from the prices drop accountfor a larger share of the global economy.Consumers, in the U.S. at least, are acting cautiously with the savings they’r e getting at the gas pump, as the memory of the recent great recession is stillfresh in their mind. And a number of oil-producing countries are trimming theirgasoline subsidies and raising taxes, so the net savings for global consumers isnot as big as the oil price plunge might suggest.51.What does the author mainly discuss in the passage?A)The reasons behind the plunge of oil prices.B)Possible ways to stimulate the global economy.C)The impact of cheap oil on global economic growth.D)The effect of falling oil prices on consumer spending.【答案】 C52.Why do some experts believe cheap oil will stimulate the global economy?A)Manufacturers can produce consumer goods at a much lower cost.B)Lower oil prices have always given a big boost to the global economy.C)Oil prices may rise or fall but economic laws are not subject to change.D)Consumers will spend their savings from cheap oil on other commodities.【答案】 D53.What happens in many oil-exporting countries when oil prices go down?A)They suspend import of necessities from overseas.B)They reduce production drastically to boost oil prices.C)They use their money reserves to back up consumption.D)They try to stop their economy from going into free-fall.【答案】 C54.How does Carl Weinberg view the current oil price plunge?A)It is one that has seen no parallel in economic history.B)Its negative effects more than cancel out its positive effects.C)It still has a chance to give rise to a boom in the global economy.D)Its effects on the global economy go against existing economic laws.【答案】 B55.Why haven’t falling oil prices boosted the global economy as they did before?A)People are not spending all the money they save on gas.B)The global economy is likely to undergo another recession.C)Oil importers account for a larger portion of the global economy.D)People the world over are afraid of a further plunge in oil prices.【答案】 APart IV Translation (30 minutes)Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to translate a passagefrom Chinese into English. You should write your answer on Answer Sheet 2.在中国文化中，红色通常象征着好运、长寿和幸福。

12月四级考试真题答案3套全

12月四级考试真题答案3套全2016年12月四级考试真题答案（3套全）2016年12月份的四六级考试已经告一段落，为了方便大家查询答案，评估自己的.考试成绩，做考试后的总结。

店铺为大家整理了英语四级真题参考答案，供大家参考!第一套英语四级真题参考答案Part Ⅰ WritingFinding A Job FirstCollege students’options upon graduation vary from person to person. Some students choose to hunt for a job while others prefer to start their own businesses. As for me, I would rather find a job first.The reasons for my decision are as follows. For one thing, it is much easier for me to find a job compared with starting a business which demands fund, experience, and the market. As a green hand who has just graduated from college, it’s totally beyond my ability to handle such a complex situation. For another, working for others could develop my personalities such as perseverance and stress tolerance, which can help me become more prepared and qualified if I would like to start my own business.To conclude, chances always favor those who are prepared. And I don’t think a person could really “build up from nothing”. As a result, I will find a job first after graduation.Part Ⅱ Listening ComprehensionSection A1 A) It was dangerous to live in.2 B) A storm.3 B) They were trapped in an underground elevator.4 C) They sent supplies to keep the miners warm.5 D) Close some of its post offices.6 C) Stopping mail delivery on Saturdays.7 A) Many post office staff will lose their jobs.Section B8 D) He will lose part of his pay.9 B) He is a trustworthy guy.10 D) She is better at handling such matters.11 C) He is always trying to stir up trouble.12 D) Reserved.13 A) They stay quiet.14 C) She was never invited to a colleague’s home.15 B) Houses provide more privacy.Section C16 D) They will automatically be given hiring priority.17 C) Visit the school careers service.18 B) Supervising study spaces to ensure a quiet atmosphere.19 C) It may be sold at a higher price.20 A) It is healthier than green tea.21 D) It does not have a stable market.22 B) They prefer unique objects of high quality.23 B) They could only try to create at night.24 A) Make wise choices.25 A) To boost the local economy.Part Ⅲ Reading ComprehensionSection A26 K) rarely27 O) tortured28 J) minimal29 D) determine30 G) inadequate31 B) creates32 E) direction33 M) strengthen34 L) shelters35 C) criticallySection B36 C) It might mean monitoring employee productivity on a digital leaderboard and offering prizes to the winners, or giving employees digital badges or stars for completing certain activities.37 J) Gamification is “not a magic bullet,” Werbach warns.38 G) ]Some people, Werbach says, are motivated by competition.39 D) The concept of gamification is not entirely new, Werbach says.40 K) Still, gamification only stands to become more popular, he says, “as more and more people come into the workforce who are familiar with the structures and expressions of digital games.”41 E) But the word “gamification” and the widespread, conscious application of the concept only began in earnest about five years ago, Werbach says.42 B) Increasingly, companies are tapping into these desires directly through what has come to be known as “gamification”: essentially, turning work into a game.43 H) Gamification does not have to be digital. Monica Cornetti runs a company that gamifies employee trainings.44 F) A number of companies have sprung up—GamEffective, Bunchball and Badgeville, to name a few—in recent yearsoffering gamification platforms for businesses.45 I) Some people do not take naturally to gamified work environments, Cornetti says.Section C46 C) They are over-burdened with administrative staff.47 A) Good classroom teachers.48 D) They are much bigger than is desirable.49 A) It requires talent and practice.50 B) Hiring more classroom teachers and allowing them to teach in their own way.51 D) It may be a pleasant way for kids to reduce their food intake.52 D) Most kids and adults would choose a smaller meal that came with a non-food item.53 B) Adults chose the smaller portion on the mere promise of a future award.54 A) The emotional component of the prizes is at work.55 D) More studies are needed to find out the impact of emotion on behavior.Part Ⅳ TranslationThe color of red in Chinese culture usually symbolizes good luck，longevity, and happiness. Red can be found everywhere during Chinese Spring Festival and other joyous occasions. Cashes are often put in red envelopes and sent to family members or close friends as gifts. The popularity of red in China can also be attributed to the fact that people associate it with the Chinese Revolution and the Communist Party. However, red does not signify good luck and joy all the time in that the name of the dead used to be written in red. Thus it is regarded as an offense to write the names of Chinese people in red ink.。

12月英语四级真题参考答案第一套

12月英语四级真题参考答案第一套2016年12月英语四级真题参考答案（第一套）2016年大学英语四级考试已经过去了，为了方便广大考生评估自己的考试成绩，店铺为大家整理了2016年12月英语四级第一套真题参考答案，希望对大家有所参考!第一套英语四级真题参考答案Part Ⅰ WritingFinding A Job FirstCollege students’options upon graduation vary from person to person. Some students choose to hunt for a job while others prefer to start their own businesses. As for me, I would rather find a job first.The reasons for my decision are as follows. For one thing, it is much easier for me to find a job compared with starting a business which demands fund, experience, and the market. As a green hand who has just graduated from college, it’s totally beyond my ability to handle such a complex situation. For another, working for others could develop my personalities such as perseverance and stress tolerance, which can help me become more prepared and qualified if I would like to start my own business.To conclude, chances always favor those who are prepared. And I don’t think a person could really “build up from nothing”. As a result, I will find a job first after graduation.Part Ⅱ Listening ComprehensionSection A1 A) It was dangerous to live in.2 B) A storm.3 B) They were trapped in an underground elevator.4 C) They sent supplies to keep the miners warm.5 D) Close some of its post offices.6 C) Stopping mail delivery on Saturdays.7 A) Many post office staff will lose their jobs.Section B8 D) He will lose part of his pay.9 B) He is a trustworthy guy.10 D) She is better at handling such matters.11 C) He is always trying to stir up trouble.12 D) Reserved.13 A) They stay quiet.14 C) She was never invited to a colleague’s home.15 B) Houses provide more privacy.Section C16 D) They will automatically be given hiring priority.17 C) Visit the school careers service.18 B) Supervising study spaces to ensure a quiet atmosphere.19 C) It may be sold at a higher price.20 A) It is healthier than green tea.21 D) It does not have a stable market.22 B) They prefer unique objects of high quality.23 B) They could only try to create at night.24 A) Make wise choices.25 A) To boost the local economy.Part Ⅲ Reading ComprehensionSection A26 K) rarely27 O) tortured28 J) minimal29 D) determine30 G) inadequate31 B) creates32 E) direction33 M) strengthen34 L) shelters35 C) criticallySection B36 C) It might mean monitoring employee productivity on a digital leaderboard and offering prizes to the winners, or giving employees digital badges or stars for completing certain activities.37 J) Gamification is “not a magic bullet,” Werbach warns.38 G) ]Some people, Werbach says, are motivated by competition.39 D) The concept of gamification is not entirely new, Werbach says.40 K) Still, gamification only stands to become more popular, he says, “as more and more people come into the workforce who are familiar with the structures and expressions of digital games.”41 E) But the word “gamification” and the widespread, conscious application of the concept only began in earnest about five years ago, Werbach says.42 B) Increasingly, companies are tapping into these desires directly through what has come to be known as “gamification”: essentially, turning work into a game.43 H) Gamification does not have to be digital. Monica Cornetti runs a company that gamifies employee trainings.44 F) A number of companies have sprung up—GamEffective, Bunchball and Badgeville, to name a few—in recent yearsoffering gamification platforms for businesses.45 I) Some people do not take naturally to gamified work environments, Cornetti says.Section C46 C) They are over-burdened with administrative staff.47 A) Good classroom teachers.48 D) They are much bigger than is desirable.49 A) It requires talent and practice.50 B) Hiring more classroom teachers and allowing them to teach in their own way.51 D) It may be a pleasant way for kids to reduce their food intake.52 D) Most kids and adults would choose a smaller meal that came with a non-food item.53 B) Adults chose the smaller portion on the mere promise of a future award.54 A) The emotional component of the prizes is at work.55 D) More studies are needed to find out the impact of emotion on behavior.Part Ⅳ TranslationThe color of red in Chinese culture usually symbolizes good luck，longevity, and happiness. Red can be found everywhere during Chinese Spring Festival and other joyous occasions. Cashes are often put in red envelopes and sent to family members or close friends as gifts. The popularity of red in China can also be attributed to the fact that people associate it with the Chinese Revolution and the Communist Party. However, red does not signify good luck and joy all the time in that the name of the dead used to be written in red. Thus it is regarded as an offense to write the names of Chinese people in red ink.【2016年12月英语四级真题参考答案（第一套）】。

2016年12大学英语四级第一套真题和答案

2016年12月大学英语四级试题（第一套）。

Part I Writing （30minutes）（请于正式开考后半小时内完成该部分，之后将进行听力考试）Directions：For this part， you are allowed 30 minutes to write an essay .Supposeyou are two options upon graduation：one is to find a job somewhere and the otherto start a business of your own. You are to make a choice between the two. Writean essay to explain the reasons for your choice. You should write at least 120words but no more than 180 words.Part II Listening Comprehension （25minutes）Section ADirections：In this section， you will hear three news reports. At the end ofeach news report， you will hear two or three questions. Both the news reportand the questions will be spoken only once. After you hear a question， you mustchoose the best answer from the four choices marked A）， B）， C）. Then markthe corresponding letter on the Answer sheet1with a single line through thecentre.Questions 1and 2 are based on the news report you have just the heard.1. A） It was dangerous to live in.C） He could no longer pay the rent.B） It was going to be renovated. D）He had sold it to the royalfamily.2. A） A strike. B） A storm. C） A forest fire. D） A Terroristattack.Questions 3and 4 are based on the news report you have just heard.3. A） They lost contact with the emergency department.B）They were trapped in an underground elevator.C） They were injured by suddenly falling rocks.D） They sent calls for help via a portable radio.4. A） They tried hard to repair the accident.B） They released the details of the accident.C） They sent supplies to keep the miners warm.D） They provided the miner with food and water.Question5 to7 are based on the news report you have just heard.5. A） Raise postage rates. C） Redesign delivery routes.B） Improve its services. D） Close some of its post offices.6. A） Shortening business hours. C）Stopping mail delivery on Saturdays.B） Closing offices on holidays. D） Computerizing mail sorting processes.7. A） Many post office staff will lose their jobsB） Many people will begin to complainC） Taxpayers will be very pleasedD）A lot of controversy will ariseSection BDirections：In this section，you will hear two long conversations. At the end of each conversation，you will hear four questions. Both the conversation and the questions will be spoken only once. After you hear a question， you must choose the best answer from four choice marked A），B），C） and D）.Then mark the corresponding letter an Answer sheet1with a single line though the centre. Question8 to 11 are based on the conversation you have just heard.8. A）He will be kept from promotion. C）He will be given a warning.B）He will go through retraining. D）He will lose part of his pay.9. A）He is always on time. C）He is an experienced press operator.B）He is trustworthy guy. D）He is on good terms with his workmates.10. A）She is a trade union representative.C）She is a senior manager of the shop.B）She is in charge of public relation. D）She is better at handing such matters.11. A）He is skilled and experienced. C）He is always trying to stir up trouble.B）He is very close to the manager. D）He is always complaining about low wages.Question12 to 15 are based on the conversation you have just heard.12. A）Open. B）Friendly. C）Selfish. D）Reserved.13. A）They stay quiet. C）They talk about the weatherB）They read a book. D）They chat with fellow passengers.14. A）She was always treated as a foreigner.B）She was eager to visit an English castle.C）She was never invited to a colleague’s home.D）She was unwilling to make friends with workmates.15. A） House are much more quiet. C） They want to have more space.B） Houses provide more privacy.D） They want a garden of their own. Section CDirections：In this section，you will hear three passages. At the end of each passage，you will hear three or four questions. Both the passage and the questions will be spoken only once. After you hear a question，you must choose the bestanswer from the four choices marked A），B），C） and D）.Then mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 1 with a single line through the centre.Questions 16 to 18 are based on the passage you have just heard.16. A） They don’t have much choice of jobs.B） They are likely to get much higher pay.C） They don’t have to go through job interviews.D） They will automatically be given hiring priority.17. A） Ask their professors for help. C）Visit the school careers services.B） Look at school bulletin boards. D） Go through campus newspapers. 18. A） Helping students find the books and journals they need.B） Supervising study spaces to ensure a quiet atmosphere.C） Helping students arrange appointments with librarians.D） Providing students with information about the library.Questions 19 to 21 are based on the passage you have just heard.19. A） It tastes better. C） It may be sold at a higher price .B） It is easier to grow. D）It can better survive extreme weathers.20. A） It is healthier than green tea. C） It will replace green tea one day.B） It can grow in drier soil. D） It is immune to various diseases.21. A） It has been well received by many tea drinkers.B） It does not bring the promised health benefits.C）It has made tea farmers’ life easi er.D） It does not have a stable market.Questions 22 to 25 are based on the passage you have just heard.22. A）They need decorations to show their status.B） They prefer unique objects of high quality.C） They decorate their homes themselves.D） They care more about environment.23. A） They were proud of their creations.B） They could only try to create at night.C） They made great contributions to society.D） They focused on the quality of their products.24. A） Make wise choices. C） Design handicrafts themselves.B） Identify fake crafts. D） Learn the importance of creation. 25. A） To boost the local economy. C） To arouse public interest in crafts.B） To attract foreign investments. D）To preserve the traditional culture.PARTⅢ Reading Comprehension （40 minutes）Section ADirections： In this section， there is a passage with ten blanks. You are required to select one word for each blank from a list of choices given in a word bank following the passage. Read the passage through carefully before making your choices. Each choice in the bank is identified by a letter. Please mark the corresponding letter for each item on Answer Sheet 2with a single line through the centre. You may not use any of the words in the bank more than once.When someone commits a criminal act, we always hope the punishment will match the offense. But when it comes to one of the cruelest crimes —animal fighting —things 26 work out that way. Dog fighting victims are 27 and killed for profit and “sport,” yet t heir criminal abusers often receive a 28sentence for causing a lifetime of pain. Roughly half of all federally-convicted animal fighters only get probation(缓刑).Some progress has been made in the prosecution(起诉) of animal fighters. But federal judges often rely heavily on the . Sentencing Guidelines when they 29penalties, and in the case of animal fighting, those guidelines are outdated and extremely30.The . Sentencing Commission, which31these sentencing guidelines, is revisiting them, proposing to raise the minimum sentence from 6-12 to 21-27 months. This is a step in the right 32, but we’d like to see the . Sentencing Commission make further guidelines.Simultaneous to this effort, we’re working with animal advocates and state and federal lawmakers to 33 anti-cruelty laws across the country, as well as supporting laws and policies that assist overburdened animal 34 that care for animal fighting victims. This help is35 important because the high cost of caring for animal victims is a major deterrent to intervening in cruelty cases in the first place.Section BDirections：In this section， you are gonging 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.When Work Becomes a Game[A]What motivates employees to do their jobs well? Competition with coworkers, for some. The promise of rewards, for others. Pure enjoyment of problem-solving, for a lucky few.[B]Increasingly, companies are tapping into these desires directly through what’s come to be known as “gamification:” essentially, turning work into a game. “Gamification is a bout understanding what it is that makes games engaging and what game designers do to create a great experience in games, and taking those learnings and applying them to other contexts such as the workplace and education,” explains Kevin Werbach, a gamific ation expert who teaches at the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania in the United States..[C]It might mean monitoring employee productivity on a digital leaderboard and offering prizes to the winners, or giving employees digital badges or stars for completing certain activities. It could also mean training employees how to do their jobs through video game platforms. Companies from Google to IBM to Wells Fargo are known to use some degree of gamification in their workplaces. And more and more companies are joining them. A recent report suggests that the global gamification market will grow from $ billion in 2015 to $ billion by 2020. [D]The concept of gamification is not entirely new, Werbach says. Companies, marketers and teachers h ave long looked for fun ways to engage people’s reward-seeking or competitive spirits. Cracker Jacks has been “gamifying” its snack food by putting a small prize inside for more than 100 years, he adds, and the turn-of-the-century steel magnate Charles Schwab is said to have often come into his factory and written the number of tons of steel produced on the past shift on the factory floor, thus motivating the next shift of workers to beat the previous one.[E]But the word “gamification” and the widespread, conscious application ofthe concept only began in earnest about five years ago, Werbach says. Thanks in part to video games, the generation now entering the workforce is especially open to the idea of having their work gamified. “We’re at a point where in much of the developed world the vast majority of young people grew up playing [video] games, and an increasingly high percentage of adults play these video games too,” Werbach says.[F]A number of companies have sprung up—GamEffective, Bunchball and Badgeville, to name a few—in recent years offering gamification platforms for businesses. The platforms that are most effective turn employees’ ordinary job tasks into part of a rich adventure narrative. “What makes a game game-like is that the player actually cares about the outcome,” Werbach says. “The principle is understanding what is motivating to this group of players, which requires some understanding of psychology.”[G]Some people, Werbach says, are motivated by competition. Sales people often fall into this category. For them, the right kind of gamification might be turning their sales pitches into a competition with other team members, complete with a digital leaderboard showing who’s winning at all are more motivated by collaboration and social experiences. One company Werbach has studied uses gamification to create a sense of community and boost employee morale. When employees log in to their computers, they’re shown a picture of one of their coworkers and asked to guess that person’s name.[H]Gamification does not have to be digital. Monica Cornetti runs a company that gamifies employee trainings. Sometimes this involves technology, but often it does not. She recently designed a gamification strategy for a sales training company with a storm-chasing t heme. Employees formed “storm chaser teams” and competed in storm-themed educational exercises to earn various rewards.“Rewards don’t have to be stuff,” Cornetti says. “Rewards can beflextime. Rewards can be extension time.”Another training, this one for pay roll law, used a Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs theme. Snow White is public domain, but the dwarfs are still under copyright, so Cornetti invented sound-alike characters (Grumpy Gus, Dopey Dan) to illustrate specific pay roll law principles.[I]Some p eople don’t take as naturally to gamified work environments, Cornetti says. In her experience, people in positions of power or people in finance or engineering don’t tend to like the sound of the word.“If we’re designing for engineers, I’m not talking about a ‘game’ at all,” Cornetti says. “I’m talking about a ‘simulation,’ I’m talking about ‘be ing able to solve this problem.”[J]Gamification is “not a magic bullet,” Werbach cautions. A gamification strategy that’s not sufficiently thought through or tailor ed to its players may engage people for a little while, but it won’t motivate in the long term. It can also be exploitative, especially when used with vulnerable populations. For workers, especially low-paid workers, who desperately need their jobs yet know they can be easily replaced, gamification may feel more like the Hunger Games. Werbach gives the example of several Disneyland hotels in Anaheim, California, which used large digital leaderboards to display how efficiently laundry workers were working compared to one another. Some employees found the board motivating. To others, it was the opposite of fun. Some began to skip bathroom breaks, worried that if their productivity fell they would be fired. Pregnant employees struggled to keep up. In a Los Angeles Times article, one employee referred to the board as a “digital whip.”“It actually had a very negative effect on morale and performance,” Werbach says.[K]Still, gamification only stands to become more popular, he says, “as more and more people come into the workforce who are intuitively familiar with thestructures and expressions of digital games.” “We are way ahead of the tipping point,” Cornetti agrees. “There’s no reason this will go away.”famous companies are already using gamification and more are trying to do the same.is not a miracle cure for all workplaces as it may have negative results.enhance morale, one company asks its employees to identify their fellow works when starting their computers.idea of gamification was practiced by some businesses more than a century ago. is a reason to believe that gamification will be here to stay.games contributed in some ways to the wide application of gamification.turning work into a game, it is necessary to understand what makes games interesting.in employee training does not always need technology.most successful gamification platforms transform daily work assignments into fun experiences.is necessary to use terms other than “gamification” for some professions. Section CDirections：There are 2 passages in this section .Each passage is followed by some questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices maked A），B），C）and D）.You should decide on the best choice and mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet2 with a single line through the centre. Passage OneQuestions 46 to 50 are based on the following passage.Recently I attended several meetings where we talked about ways to retain students and keep younger faculty members from going elsewhere.It seems higher education has become an industry of meeting-holders whose task it is to " solve" problems-real or imagined. And in my position as aprofessor at three different colleges, the actual problems in educating our young people and older students have deepened, while the number of people hired-not to teach but to hold meetings-has increased significantly. Every new problem creates a new job for an administrative fixer. Take our Center for Teaching Excellence. Contrary to its title, the center is a clearing house (信息交流中心)for using technology in classrooms and in online courses. It's an administrative sham (欺诈) of the kind that has multiplied over the last 30 years.I offer a simple proposition in response: Many of our problems-class attendance, educationalsuccess, student happiness and well-being-might be improved by cutting down the bureaucratic (官僚的) mechanisms and meetings and instead hiring an army of good teachers. lf we replaced half of our administrative staff with classroom teachers, we might actually get a majority of our classes back to 20 or fewer students per teacher This would be an environment in which teachers and students actually knew each other.The teachers must be free to teach in their own way-the curriculum should be flexible enough so that they can use their individual talents to achieve the goals of the course. Additionally; they should be allowed to teach, and be rewarded for doing it well. Teachers are not people who are great at and consumed by research and happen to appear in a classroom. Good teaching and research are not exclusive, but they are also not automatic companions. Teaching is an art and a craft, talent and practice; it is not something that just anyone can be good at. It is utterly confusing to me that people do not recognize this, despite the fact that pretty much anyone who has been a student can tell the difference between their best and worst teachers.does the author say about present-day universities?A)They are effectively tackling real or imagined problems.B)They often fail to combine teaching with research.C)They are over-burdened with administrative staff.D)They lack talent to fix their deepening problems.to the author, what kind of people do universities lack most?A)Good classroom teachers. C) Talented researchers.B)Efficient administrators. D) Motivated students.does the author imply about the classes at present?A)They facilitate students independent learning.B)They help students form closer relationships.C)They have more older students than before.D)They are much bigger than is desirable.does the author think of teaching ability?A)It requires talent and practice.B)It is closely related to research.C)It is a chief factor affecting students 'learning.D)It can be acquired through persistent practice.is the author’s suggestion for improving university teaching?A)Creating an environment for teachers to share 'their teaching experiences.B)Hiring more classroom teachers and allowing them to teach in their own way.C)Using high technology in classrooms and promoting exchange of information.D)Cutting down meetings and encouraging administrative staff to go to classrooms.Passage TwoQuestions 51to 55 are based on the following passage.The secret to eating less and being happy about it may have been cracked years ago-by McDonald's. According to a new study from Cornell University's Food and Brand Lab, small non-food rewards-like the toys in McDonald's HappyMeals-stimulate the same reward centers in the brain as food does.The researchers, led by Martin Reimann, carried out a series of experiments to see if people would choose a smaller meal if it was paired with a non-food items.They found that the majority of both kids and adults opted for a half-sized portion when combined with a prize. Both options were priced the same.Even more interesting is that the promise of a future reward was enough to make adults choose the smaller portion.\One of the prizes used was a lottery ticket（彩票）, with a $ 10, $ 50 or $ 100 payout, and this was as effective as a tangible gift in persuading people to eat less."The fact that participants were willing to substitute part of a food item for the mere prospect of a relatively small monetary award is interesting.”says Reimann.He theorizes that it is the emotional component of these intangible prizes that make them effective. In fact, vaguely-stated possibilities of winning a prize were more effective than options with hard odds included.“One explanation for this finding is that possible awards may be more emotionally provoking than certainty awards," says Reimann. " The uncertainty of winning provides added attraction and desirability through emotional ‘thrills.' The possibility of receiving an award also produces a state of hope 一a state that is in itself psychologically rewarding·"In other words, there’s a reason why people like to gambleHow might it’s knowledge be used to help people eat more healthily?One possibility is a healthy that offers the chance to win a spa (温泉疗养) weekend. Or maybe the reward of a half-sized portion could be a half-sized dessert to be claimed only on a future date. That would get you back in the restaurant-and make you eat a little less.do we learn about McDonald’s inclusion of toys in its Happy Meals?A)It may shed light on people’s desire to crack a secret.B)It has proved to be key to McDonald’s business success.C)It appeals to kid’s curiosity to find out what is hidden inside.D)It may be a pleasant way for kids to reduce their food intake.52. What is the finding of the researchers led by Martin Reimann?A)Reducing food intake is not that difficult if people go to McDonald’s more.B)Most kids and adults don’t actually feel hungry when they eat half of their meal.C)Eating a smaller does good to the health of kids and adults alike.D)Most kids and adults would choose a smaller meal that came with a non-food item.is most interesting in Martin Reimann’s finding?A)Kids preferred an award in the form of money to one in the form of a toy.B)Adults chose the smaller portion on the mere promise of a future awardC)Both kids and adults felt satisfied with only half of their meal portions.D)Neither children nor adults could resist the temptation of a free toy.does Martin Reimann interpret his finding?A)The emotional component of the prizes is at work.B)People now care more about quality than quantity.C)People prefer certainty awards to possible awards.D) The desire for a future reward is overwhelming.can we infer from Martin Reimann’s finding?A)·People should eat much less if they ·wish to stay healthy and happy.B)More fast food restaurants are likely to follow McDonald’s example.C)We can lead people to eat less while helping the restaurant business.D)More studies are needed to find out the impact of emotion on behavior.Part IV Translation （30 minutes）Directions： For this part， you are allowed 30minutes to translate a passage from Chinese into English .You should write your answer on Answer Sheet 2.在中国文化中，红色通常象征着好运、长寿和幸福.在春节和其他喜庆场合，红色到处可见.人们把现金作为礼物送给家人或亲密朋友时，通常放在红色信封里.红色在中国流行的另一个原因是人们把它与中国革命和共产党相联系.然而，红色并不总是代表好运和快乐.因为从死前者名字通常用红色书写，用红墨水书写中国人名被看成是一种冒犯行为.2016年12月大学英语四级答案（第一套）Part1 writing (30 minutes)破题思路：第一段：话题描述. 第二段：表明观点+阐述原因. 第三段：观点结论.参考范文：(选择就业还是创业)Finding a Job FirstUpon graduation， virtually all college students will confront the problem of the career choice，which is truly a tough choice. Students’ opinions differ greatly on this issue. Some hold that priority should be given to start a business of your own， but others take the attitude that finding a job is the best choice influencing their future.As to myself， I prefer the latter view. An opportunity to start a business exerts a tremendous fascination on a great number of people， with no exception to me. In my view， With the competition in the job market becoming increasingly fierce for college graduates， some ambitious students have tried their hands at launching their own businesses. Over the years，there have been many successful cases of student entrepreneurship and such attempts should be encouraged and promoted by both the universities and the society at large. What’s more ，College students who start businesses are pioneers，among whom will be born China’s future business leaders. Faced with unknown challenges， they are audacious enough to embark on a perilous journey while most of their peers enjoy stable salaries by working as white-collars at high-end office buildings.All in all， the essential difference between the students who find a job or those students who create their own businesses is that the former are docile followers whereas the latter are aggressive trailblazers. For this reason，business-launching college graduates are more admirable， and thus they commandour deep respect.Part II Listening Comprehension （25 minutes）【英语四级听力真题解析】听力作为一种考试题型，目的在于考查应试者对英语语言的把握，自从英语四级题型改革后，所选题材侧重新闻稿和演讲稿，比如这次英语四级考试的Section A 部分，主要是关于采盐工人的相关新闻报导，文章稍难，我们在作答之前，一定要快速浏览各题目的选项，先把核心关键词划出来，比如重要的名词，名词性短语等，这样可以帮助我们预知要听的重点，提高捕捉信息的准确度，降低听力材料的难度.在听录音的过程中，快速作标记，锁定正确答案.1.(A)It was dangerous to live in.2.(B)A storm3.(B)They were trapped in an underground elevator.4.(C)They sent supplies to keep the miners warm.5.(D)Close some of its post office.6.(C)Stopping mail delivery on Saturdays.7.(A)Many post office staff will lose their jobs.Section B8.(D)He will lose part of his pay.9.(B)He is a trustworthy guy. 10.(D)She is better at handling such matters.11.(C)He is always trying to stir up trouble. 12.(D)Reserved 13.(A)They stay quiet 14.(C)She was never invited to a colleague’s home. 15.(B)Houses provide more privacySection C16.(D)They will automatically be given hiring priority.17.(C)Visit the school careers service.18.(B)Supervising study spaces to ensure a quiet atmosphere.19.(C)It may be sold at a higher price. 20.(A)It is healthier than green tee.21.(D)It does not have a stable market.22.(B)They prefer unique objects of high quality.23.(B)They could only try to create at night.24.(A)Make wise choices.25.(A)To boost the local economy.Section AA 16th century castle in Scotland is close to collapsing after lumps of soils were washed away by floods, threatening its foundations.On Sunday, the castle’s owner John Gordon, 76, was forced to move out his property after the River Dee swept away about 60 feet of land, leaving the castle dangerous close to the river. According to the Scottish Daily Record. Abergeldie castle located in Aberdeenshire, Scotland was built by Sir Alexander Gordon of Midmar who later became the Earl of Huntly.The castle which is located on 11,700 acres was leased to members of the royal family between 1848 and 1970, including King Edward VII and George V.The Scottish Environment Protection Agency has issued more than 35 flood warnings covering several regions, as Scotland continues to clean up the after Storm Frank hit the country last Wednesday.“This means that rivers will rise more slowly, but then stay high for much longer.” the environmental agency said.Q1. Why did John Gordon move out of Abergeldie castle?Q2. What happened in Scotland last Wednesday?Section A - 2Rescue efforts were underway Thursday morning for 17 miners who were stuck in an elevator below ground at a Cargill rock salt mine near Lansing, New York,according to Marcia Lynch.Public information officer with T ompkins County’s emergency response department, emergency workers have made contact with the miners via a radio. And they all appear to be uninjured, said Jessica Verfuss, the emergency department’s assistant director.Crews have managed to provide heat packs and blankets to the miners so that they can keep warm during the rescue operation, Verfuss said. Details about what led to the workers’ being trapped in the elevator went immediately available. The mine, along New York’s Cayuga Lake, processes salt u sed for road treatment. It produces about 2 million tons of salt that is shipped to more than 1,500 places in the northeastern United States, the rock salt mine is one of three operated by Cargill with the other two in Louisiana and Ohio.Q3. What does the news report say about the salt miners?did the rescue team do?Section A - 3The . Postal Service announced today that it is considering closing about 3,700 post offices over the next year because of falling revenues.Facing an $ billion budget deficit this year, closing post officers is one of several proposals the Postal Service has put forth recently to cut costs. Last week, for example, Postmaster General Pat Donahoe announced plans to stop mail delivery on Saturdays, a move he says could save $3 billion annually.“We are losing revenue as we speak,” Donahoe said. “We do not want taxpayer money. We want to be self-sufficient. So like any other business you have to make choices.”Dean Granholm the vice president for delivery and post office operations said the first waves of closings would begin this fall. He estimated that about 3,000 postmasters, 500 station managers and between 500 and 1,000 postal clerks could。

12月大学英语四级第一套真题答案

12月大学英语四级第一套真题答案2016年12月大学英语四级第一套真题答案下面是店铺特意为大家准备的2016年12月的大学英语四级第一套真题答案，大家做完试题后可以来对对答案哦。

写作要求：Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write an essay. Suppose you have two options upon graduation. One is to find a job somewhere and the other to start a business of your own. You are to make a decision. Write an essay to explain the reasons for your decision. You should write at least 120 words but no more than 180 words.参考范文：In the past two years of my college life, I have never ceased to think what kind of work I shall take up upon graduation. Although my ideas are not consistent, I have now decided to start a business of my own as my lifelong career.A variety of factors have led me to make this decision over other more lucrative ones. T o begin with, running my own business means freedom and independence. As a person having my own business, I am free to use my own ideas and make my own decisions, a privilege not everyone can have, even those with highly-paid positions. More importantly, I like starting my own business in that it offers a certain peace of mind. No more rushing to catch a morning bus, no more anxiety to please a boss, no more worries about your paycheck which is steady, if not handsome.Nothing, not even a big salary, can equal for the satisfaction of being your own boss and a gentle peace of life.听力参考答案Section A News reports1. [A] It was dangerous to live in.2. [B] A storm3. [B] They were trapped in an underground elevator.4. [C] They sent supplies to keep the miners warm.5. [D] Close some of its post office.6. [C] Stopping mail delivery on Saturdays.7. [A] Many post office staff will lose their jobs.Section B Conversations8. [D] He will lose part of his pay.9. [B] He is a trustworthy guy.10. [D] She is better at handling such matters.11. [C] He is always trying to stir up trouble.12. [D] Reserved13. [A] They stay quiet14. [C] She was never invited to a colleague’s home.15. [B] Houses provide more privacySection C Passages16. [D] They will automatically be given hiring priority.17. [C] Visit the school careers service.18. [B] Supervising study spaces to ensure a quiet atmosphere.19. [C] It may be sold at a higher price.20. [A] It is healthier than green tee.21. [D] It does not have a stable market.22. [B] They prefer unique s of high quality.23. [B] They could only try to create at night.24. [A] Make wise choices.25. [A] T o boost the local economy.阅读参考答案：选词填空26. [E] challenges27. [J] searched28. [D] categorizing29. [K] similarities30. [L] slightly31. [G] percentage32. [O] traditional33. [I] regardless34. [H] proving35. [M] suggests段落匹配36. [I]37. [D]38. [J]39. [F]40. [B]41. [H]42. [C]43. [K]44. [G]45. [E]仔细阅读passage one46. [B] He intends to get rid of the tipping practice.47. [C] It forces the customer to comensate the waiter.48. [D] They can have some say in how much their servers earn.49. [A] Services quality has little effect on tip size.50. [D] Waiters should be paid by employers instead ofcustomers.passage two51. [C] The impact of cheap oil on global economic growth.52. [D] Consumers will spend their savings from cheap oil on other commodities.53. [C] They use their money reserves to back up consumption.54. [B] Its negative effects more than cancel out its positive effects.55. [A] People are not spending all the money they save on gas.翻译原文：红色在中国文化中，红色通常象征着好运、长寿和幸福，在春节和其他喜庆场合，红色到处可见。