2014年12月四级真题原文(第1套)

2014年12月四级真题（第1套）

College English Test Band FourPart Two Listening Comprehension

Section A 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 questionswill be spoken only once.After you hear a question,you must choose the best answer from the four choicesmarked A), B), C) and D).Then mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 1with a single line through the centre.

Questions 1 and 2 will be basedon the following news item.

A report on online consumption trends releasedby Amazon revealed that women,senior citizens and youngsters havebecome a major driving force for mobile purchases.The report was based on data analysisof buying behavior of more than 300 million usersbetween 2011 and 2015.According to the report,more than 70 percent of buyers of baby products,cosmetics and garments,and 60 percent of buyers of food,home furnishings,shoes and bags are women.Women, mainly aged 23 to 35,also account for 70 percent of online buyersof imported modities believed to be popularamong young people have attractedmore elderly people.Statistics showed that perfume consumptionamong users aged 50 to 70 has been growing.They spent around 11 million dollarson perfume last year alone.According to the report,youngsters make a major contributionto mobile ers who were born after 1990 madearound 70 percent of purchases on their mobile applications.

1. What can we conclude from the statistics?

2. How much money did the elderlyspend on perfume last year?

Questions 3 and 4 will be basedon the following news item.

Electric car sales in China are expectedto reach 220 000 to 250 000 this year,surpassing the US to rank first worldwide,China Association of AutomobileManufactures (CAAM) forecast.Worldwide electric car sales will hit 600 000 and the figurefor the US market is estimated to be 180 000,said XuYanhua,deputy secretary-general of CAAM.Although China has achieved rapid development in electric vehicles,quality instead of quantity should be focused onfor the sustainable development of the industry,Xu told an industry conference.In particular, vehicle safety and the qualityof batteries should be carefully examined and supervised,she added. China's new energy vehicle sectorhas seen explosive growth in the past two years,thanks to the government's support

policiesincluding subsidies and tax cuts.In the first ten months,the sales of electric cars surged 290 percent year on year to 171 145,CAAM data showed.

3. How many sales of electric cars are there in the US?

4. What should be focused on for the sustainabledevelopment of electric vehicles?

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

As the traffic in Nairobi worsens,primary school pupils who depend on public transportation seem to be suffering the most as they try to keep up with the demands of school. Some private and public primary school pupils wake up as early as 4:00 amto beat the traffic and be in class on time. In the evening,they may arrive home as late as 6:30 to 7:30 pm.The current floods in the city have not made life easier for the pupils. Last week, 11 pupils from Makini Schools waited for 10 hours to be rescued when their school bus was nearly covered in water during a traffic jam.The students were rescued and taken to Boma Hotel. It was almost dawn when their parents came to pick them up. A few years ago,the IBM Commuter Pain Index Report listed Nairobi among cities with the world’s longest traffic jams. The report conclu ded that traffic jams increase the level of stress and anger. This can create negative attitudesfor commuters and affect their performance at work or school. The long-term effect is that traffic problems can create a negative attitude in the pupils towards school.

5. What is the main idea of the news report?

6. What happened to the 11 pupils from Makini Schools last week?

7. What can we learn about traffic jams from the IBM’s report?

Section B Directions: 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 questionswill be spoken only once.After you hear a question,you must choose the best answerfrom the four choices marked A), B), C) and D).Then mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 1with a single line through the centre.

Conversation One

M: Do you think there’s discrimination against women in England today?

W: Certainly, and not just in education and work either, in many other fields as well. The tax situation for women is very unfair, for example.