英语专四口试九年真题

Task1: Retelling a storyI once knew an old man whose bad memory made him famous. John Smith was so forgetful that he sometimes forget what he was talking about in the middle of a sentence. His wife had to constantly remind him about his meetings, his classes – even his meals! ②Once he forgot he had eaten breakfast twice, at home and at school. His wife liked to remind her neighbors, “If John didn’t have his head tied on. He would forget that too!”Since Smith was a professor at a well-known university, his forgetfulness was often an embarrassment. It wasn’t that he was not clever, as some critical people tended to say, but just very, very absent-minded.One hot summer day, Professor Smith decided to take his children to a seaside town about a three-hour train ride away. To make the trip more interesting for his young children, he kept the name of the town a secret.However, by the time they arrived at the station, Smith forgot the name of the town he was planning to visit. Luckily, a friend of his happened to be in the station. He offered to take care of the children while Smith hurried back home to find out where he was going.The professor’s wife was surprised to see him again so soon.“Oh, my dear, I forgot the name the town.”“What? You forgot the name? Maybe one day you will forget my name! Now I’ll write the name of that town on a piece of paper, and you put it in your pocket and please, please don’t forget where you put it.”Satisfied that she had solved the problem, she sent her husband off again. Ten minutes later she was astonished to see him outside the house for the third time.“What is the matter now?”“As you told me, I didn’t forget where I put the name of that town, but I forgot where I left our children!”Task2: Talking on a given topicDirections: Describe a teacher of yours whom you find unusual.Task3: Role-playingMany high school graduates in China are going overseas for their college education. A friend of yours is graduating this year and would like to ask for your advice on whether it is a good idea for a high school graduate to go abroad to study.Student A: You think this friend should go by all means, and you should try to convince your partner. Remember you should start the conversation.Student B:You think this friend should finish college in China before thinking about going abroad, and you should try to convince your partner. Remember your partner will start the conversation.Task I：Listen to the recorded passage twice and then retell it．Whenever Mr. Smith goes to Westgate, he stays at the Grand Hotel. In spite of its name, it is really not very "grand", but it is cheap, clean, and comfortable. Since he knows the manager well, he never has to go to the trouble of reserving a room. The fact is that he always gets the same room. It is situated at the far end of the building and overlooks a beautiful bay.On his last visit, Mr. Smith was told that he could have his usual room, but the manager added apologetically that it might be a little noisy. So great was the demand for rooms, the manager said, that the hotel had decided to build a new wind. Mr. Smith said he did not mind. It amused him to think that the dear old Grand hotel was making an effort to live up to its name.During the first day Mr. Smith hardly noticed the noise at all．The room was a little dusty, but that was natural. The following afternoon, he borrowed a book from the hotel library and went upstairs to read. No sooner had he sat down than he heard someone hammering loudly at the wall. At first he paid no attention, but after a while he began to feel very uncomfortable. His clothes were slowly being covered with fine white powder. Soon there was so much dust in the room that he began to cough. The hammering was now louder than ever and bits of plaster were coming away from the walls. It looked as though the whole building was going to fall. Mr. Smith went immediately to complain to the manager. They both returned to the room, but everything was very quiet. As they stood there looking at each other. Mr. Smith felt rather embarrassed for having dragged the manager all the way up the stairs for nothing. All of a sudden，the hammering began again and a large brick landed on the floor．Looking up, they saw a sharp metal tool had forced its way through the wall, making a very large hole right above the bed ! (355 words)Task II Talk based on a given topic．Describe an embarrassing situation in which you got very angry.Task III：Carry out a conversation with your partner based on a given situation.The geology department of a major university is planning to admit 30 male and 5 female students. However, the results of the college entrance examination show that by average, of all the applicants, females have scored higher than most males. Should the department stick to its original plan?Student A：You think the department should still stick to the original plan, and you should try to convince your partner．Remember you should start the conversation．Student B：You DON’T think the department should stick to the original plan，and you should try to convince your partner．Remember your partner will start the conversation．Task I：Listen to the recorded passage twice and then retell it．Just as Jane was joyfully expecting her first child, her active, energetic mother began losing her battle with a brain disease. For ten years, the fiercely independent and courageous mother had fought, but none of the surgeries or treatments had been successful. At only fifty-five, she became totally disabled -- able to speak, walk, eat or dress on her own.As the mother grew closer and closer to death，the baby grew closer and closer to life．Jane was afraid that her mother and baby would never know each other. Her fear seemed well-founded. A few weeks before her due date, her mother lapse into a deep coma. The doctors did not hold any hope. It was useless to put in a feeding tube, they said, for Mother would never awaken. So Jane brought Mother to her own bed in her own house. As often as she could, she sat beside her mother, talking about the baby moving inside her.On February 3, 1989, “Mom, listen. My baby is coming! You’re going to have a new grandchild. Do you understand?”“Yes,”Mother answered.What a wonderful word! The first clear word she’d spoken in months.By the time Jane brought her son home, her mother was sitting in her chair, dressed and ready to welcome the baby. For two weeks, Mother clucked, smiled and held the new-born baby. Then She quietly became unconscious and, after visits from all her children, was finally free of the pain.For Jane memories of her son’s birth will always be bittersweet, but it was at this time that she learned an important truth about living. While both joy and sorrow pass quickly, and often come together at the same time, love has the power to overcome both. And love can last forever. (317 words)Task II：Talk based on a given topic.Tell a story that illustrates the need for love．Task III：Carry out a conversation with your partner based on a given situation.Student A：You will be traveling later this week and you are wondering about the advantages and safety of flying. Recent news reports of air crashes have made you nervous and you cannot decide if it is safe to travel by airplane. You turn to your friend for advice about whether you should go by air or by train. He／She tried to persuade you to take a flight by listing some advantages. Eventually, you refuse to accept his／her opinion and make your own decision.Student B：One of your friends is taking a trip later this week and he／she is undecided about whether to travel by air or by train. Not knowing what to do, your friend comes to you for advice. You try to persuade your friend to take a flight in spite of reports of air crashes. Eventually, you fail to convince him／her and your friend buys a train ticket instead.Task I Retell a storyWhen she was 22 years old Pat Jones decided that she wanted to travel around the world and see as many foreign places as she could while she was young. When she finished college at home in Britain, Pat chose to visit Latin America first, so she managed to get a job as an English teacher in a secondary school in Bolivia. Pat spoke a little Spanish, so she was able to communicate with her students even though they did not know much English.A sentence she had once read somewhere stuck in her mind: if you dream in a foreign language, it means that you have really mastered it．Pat repeated this sentence to her students and she hoped that someday she would dream in Spanish and they would dream in English.One day, Tim, one of the worst students in her class, came up to her and explained in Spanish that he had not done his homework. He said that he had gone to bed early and had slept badly. Pat was quite angry with him, for she did not think that his explanation had anything to do with his homework. But Tim told her that he dreamed all night and his dream was in English.“In English!” Pat thought. She was greatly surprised, since Tim was such a bad student. She was also secretly jealous. Her dreams were still not in Spanish, but she decided to encourage her student and asked him to tell her about his dream.“All the people in my dream spoke English,”Tim said. “And all the signs were in English. All the newspapers and magazines and all the TV programs were in English.”“But that’s wonderful.” said Pat. “What did all the people say to you?” she asked.“I'm sorry, Miss Jones. That’s why I slept so badly all through the night. I didn’t understand a word they said. It was a nightmare!”Tim answered. (324 words)Task II：Talk based on a given topicDescribe one of the most unpleasant dreams you’ve ever had.Task III：Role-playStudent A: Nowadays higher education is getting more and more expensive. To quite a number of families it has become a big financial burden. You try to discuss this problem with student B. You think that parents should pay tuition for their children since college students do not yet have any regular income.Student B: Nowadays higher education is getting more and more expensive. To quite a number of families it has become a big financial burden. You try to discuss this problem with student A. Your opinion is that it is unfair to put this big burden on parents since college students are already adults. Students themselves should find ways to pay their own way.Task I Retell a storyA little girl whose parents had died lived with her grandmother and slept in an upstairs bedroom. One night there was a fire in the house and the grandmother died while trying to rescue the child. The fire spread quickly, and the first floor of the house was soon engulfed in flames. Neighbors called the fire department, then stood helplessly by, unable to enter the house because flames blocked all the entrances. The little girl appeared at an upstairs window, crying for help, just as word spread among the crowd that the firefighters would be delayed a few minutes because they were all at another fire. Suddenly, a man appeared with a ladder, put it up against the side of the house and disappeared inside. When he reappeared, he had the little girl in his arms. He delivered the child to the waiting arms below, then disappeared into the night. An investigation revealed that the child had no living relatives, and weeks later a meeting was held in the town hall to determine who would take the child into their home and bring her up. A teacher said she would like to raise the child. She pointed out that she could ensure her a good education.A farmer offered her an upbringing on his farm. He pointed out that living on a farm was healthy and satisfying. Others spoke, giving their reasons why it was to the child’s advantage to live with them. Finally, the town’s richest resident rose and said, “I can give this child all the advantages that you have mentioned here, plus money and everything that money can buy.” Throughout all this, the child remained silent, her eyes on the floor. “Does anyone else want to speak?”asked the meeting chairman. A man came forward from the back of the hall. He walked slowly and appeared to be in pain. When he got to the front of the room, he stood directly in front of the little girl and held out his arms. His hands and arms were terribly scarred. The child cried out. “This is the man who rescued me!” With a leap, she threw her arms around the man’s neck. She buried her face in his shoulder and sobbed for a few moments. Then she looked up and smiled at him.Task II：Talk based on a given topicPlease tell us one incident in which someone was trying to help others despite danger to his own safety.Task III：Role-playStudent A: The manager of a world-famous hotel wants to recruit a new member as the hotel’s bellboy, offering him a salary of 3000 yuan per month. Many university graduates are competing for the position. As a sophomore in the university, you think that they are applying for a job unworthy for their talents. Try to persuade your partner that you are right. Remember you will initiate the conversation.Student B: The manager of a world-famous hotel wants to recruit a new member as the hot el’s bellboy, offering him a salary of 3000 yuan per month. Many university graduates are competing for the position. As a sophomore in the university, you think that it is courageous for them to make such a decision and they have made the correct choice. Try to persuade your partner that you are right. Remember your partner will initiate the conversation.A philosophy professor stood before his class and had some items in front of him. When class began, wordlessly he picked up a large empty glass jar and proceeded to fill it with rocks right to the top, rocks about two inches in diameter.He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was.The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles, of course, rolled into the open spaces between the rocks. The students laughed.He asked his students again if the jar was full. They agreed: yes, it was.The professor then picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar.Of course, the sand filled up all the remaining space.“Now.” said the professor, “I want you to recognize that this is your life.”The rocks are the important things – your family, your partner, your health, your children – anything that is so important to you that if it were lost, you would be nearly destroyed. The pebbles are the other things in life that matter, but on a smaller scale. The pebbles represent things like your job, your house, your car. The sand is everything else. The small stuff.If you put the sand or the pebbles into the jar first, there is no room for the rocks. The same goes for your life. If you spend all your energy and time on the small stuff, or material things, you will never have room for the things that are truly most important. Pay attention to the things that are critical in your life. Play with your children. Take your partner out dancing. Talk with your parents. There will always be time to go to work, clean the house, give a dinner party and fix the dis posal. “Take care of the rocks first – the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just pebbles and sand. They will take care of themselves.”Task2: Talking on a given topicDirections: Describe a lesson you have learned which has enriched your life experience.Task3: Role-playingStudent A: You and your friend are discussing what you are going to do together during this coming summer vacation. Your friend prefers to work in a big company to earn some money. You prefer to do some voluntary work for society. You try to persuade each other by giving various reasons. Remember you will initiate the conversation.Student B:You and your friend are discussing what you are going to do together during this coming summer vacation. Your friend prefers to do some voluntary work for society. You prefer to work in a big company to earn some money. You try to persuade each other by giving various reasons. Remember your partner will initiate the conversation.Anne was a science teacher in a primary school. She loved her job and believed very strongly in practical work as a means of teaching science effectively. Once she decided to show her pupils’ parents how well their children were learning. To demonstrate the effectiveness of her methods she invited all the parents to come to the school to see the results of one of the children’s experiments. She scheduled this event for a Saturday evening, so all of the parents would be sure to come.The children were studying how plants grow. To see this process for themselves the students had planted four pots of beans. They had put poor soil in one pot to see what effect this would have on the growth of the beans. The other three pots of beans had good soil, but one pot had been placed in a dark room for several days and another pot was not watered for the same length of time. In this way the children were learning the effects of soil, water and sunlight on the growth of plants.At the end of the lesson on Friday afternoon, Anne put l abels on the four pots. One label said, “The beans in this pot were planted in poor soil.” Another one said, “This pot has been kept in the dark for four days.” The third label read, “These beans have had no water for four days.” And the last one went like this: “These beans have had good soil, plenty of light and regular water.” Then she went home.She returned to school on Saturday evening, half an hour before the parents were due to come. She was surprised to find a note beside the pots. It said: “We rea d your notes to the school cleaning staff and decided to help them with your plants, so we watered all the plants, changed the earth in one with poor soil, and left the light on above the one that had been left in the dark for four days. We hope that the p lants will now grow better.” Signed “The Boy Scouts”.Task2: Talking on a given topicDirections: Talk about an experience you have had in which you tried to help someone but actually caused trouble. Task3: Role-playingStudent A: Nowadays lots of college students take all kinds of tests to get different kinds of certificates. You think it necessary because these certificates are useful in helping the students find good jobs. But your partner doesn’t agree with you. Try to convince him/her. Remember you should start the conversation.Student B:Nowadays lots of college students take all kind of tests to get different kinds of certificates. You don’t think it necessary because most of these certificates are actually of no use. But your partner doesn’t agre e with you. Try to convince him/her. Remember your partner should start the conversation.It was shortly after one o’clock in the morning and Mr. Fairfax was really tired. He had been driving for over five hours, heading for a small town far away from home. The weather was clear but it was dark and Mr. Fairfax could not find a motel to spend the night. Completely exhausted, he decided to stop by the roadside for a few hours’ sleep at the wheel of his car. He fell asleep almost the moment he closed his eyes. But soon he was awakened by a man tapping on the car window. “I say, you don’t happen to know the time, do you?” the stranger asked.Mr. Fairfax wound down the window and thrust his head out. “It’s around one o’clock,” he an swered. Then he wound up his window and soon fell back into a deep slumber.Half an hour later, another guy came up and knocked on his window who also inquired about the time. Once again, Mr. Fairfax gathered his thoughts and told him that it was just after one-thirty.When the same thing happened yet again, Mr. Fairfax became increasingly irritated. Sleep-deprived, he began to raise his voice at the passer-by: “It’s two o’clock, God damn it! And why can’t you get yourself a watch like the rest of us?”This time when he was winding up the window, Mr. Fairfax figured out how to make sure no one else disturbed him. He found some paper and a pencil and wrote a note that he placed on the windscreen of his car. It said: “I don’t know what time it is!” Amused by h is good idea, he happily drifted off back to sleep again.Not long afterwards, the note was spotted by a policeman on his night patrol. Intent on fulfilling his duty to assist motorists, he tapped on Mr. Fairfax’s car window.“Well, sir,” the policeman said. “Now it is five past three!”Task2: Talking on a given topicDescribe a situation in which you tried every means to avoid trouble, but in vain.Task3: Role-playingStudent A: Today in China, lots of famous people, such as athletes, are admitted to famous universities without taking the college entrance exam. You and your partner are discussing the issue. You think these people deserve a chance since they have contributed a lot to the country. Your partner does not agree. Try to convince him/her. Remember you should start the conversation.Student B: Today in China, lots of famous people, such as athletes, are admitted to famous universities without taking the college entrance exam. You and your partner are discussing the issue. You don’t think these pe ople should be given this chance since it is unfair to the other people who work so hard to pass the exam. Your partner does not agree. Try to convince him/her. Remember your partner will start the conversation.Mr. Smith owned a small supermarket. All the people nearby like to go shopping there. Several months ago, a few big chain stores were opened in town. They sold everything from toothpaste to televisions, and the prices were pretty low. Many small shops were closed down, except Mr. Smith’s small supermarket. The owner of a chain store was very curious. One day, he dropped into Mr. Smith’s supermarket, and saw a middle aged woman buying fruit. When the woman walked out of the supermarket, he stopped the woman politely and asked her, “Madam, why don’t you go shopping in the large chain stores? They have many more kinds of fruit at low prices.” With a smile, the woman said, “You want to hear? It’s because of a pair of sports shoes.” Then the woman told her story. Three years ago after her divorce, she had to work very hard to raise the family. One of her two children, Tommy, was in elementary school. One day, when she was buying food in the supermarket, Tommy rushed in and pleaded with her for a pair of sports shoes. Pointing to the shoes, Tommy cried, “Mummy, I had a basketball match today. They all laughed at me when I played with my bare feet.” She really wanted to buy her son a nice pair of sports shoes, but the money in her pocket was barely enough for a meal. “I am sorry,Tommy,” she said sadly, “I promise when we have money…” seeing no hope in his mother’s eyes, Tommy ran away. Standing there without knowing what to do, she started to weep. Suddenly, she felt someone pat her on the shoulder. She turned around and saw Mr. Smith, the owner of the supermarket, holding the pair of Adidas that her son dreamed of. “Take them.” He said with an understanding smile. “But I don’t have money,” she shook her head. “Your son can’t wait,” he said, “But I can wait. Take it, and pay me la ter.” After hearing the story, the owner of the big chain store was deeply touched. Now he knew why people still liked to go shopping in Mr. Smith’s supermarket. Not only could you find all kinds of commodities there, but also understanding, love and trust.Task2: Talking on a given topicTalking based on a given topic. Trust is very important in everyone’s life. Talk about an experience when you appreciated trust from your family or friends.Task3: Role-playingStudent A: Today in China, more and more people like to make friends online. You think that the Internet is a good place to meet new friends. But your partner thinks that cyber-friendship is fake and dangerous. Try to convince your partner that the Internet is a good place to meet friends. Remember you should start the conversation.Student B: Today in China, more and more people like to make friends online. Your partner thinks that the Internet is a good place to meet new friends. But you think that cyber-friendship is fake and dangerous. Try to convince your partner that cyber-friendship is not good. Remember your partner should start the conversation.。