[外语类试卷]2016年12月大学英语四级真题试卷（三）及答案与解析.doc

1、2016年 12月大学英语四级真题试卷（三）及答案与解析 一、 Part I Writing 1 For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write an essay. Suppose you have two options upon graduation: one is to work in a state-owned business and the other in a joint venture. You are to make a choice between the two. Write an essay to explain t

2、he reasons for your choice. You should write at least 120 words but no more than 180 words. Section A （ A） To satisfy the curiosity of tourists. （ B） To replace two old stone bridges. （ C） To enable tourists to visit Goat Island. （ D） To improve utility services in the state. （ A） Countless tree lim

3、bs. （ B） A few skeletons. （ C） Lots of wrecked boats and ships. （ D） Millions of coins on the bottom. （ A） It suspended diplomatic relations with Libya. （ B） It urged tourists to leave Tunisia immediately. （ C） It shut down two border crossings with Libya. （ D） It launched a fierce attack against Is

4、lamic State. （ A） Advise Tunisian civilians on how to take safety precautions. （ B） Track down the organization responsible for the terrorist attack. （ C） Train qualified security personnel for the Tunisian government. （ D） Devise a monitoring system on the Tunisian border with Libya. （ A） An enviro

5、nment-friendly battery. （ B） An energy-saving mobile phone. （ C） A plant-powered mobile phone charger. （ D） A device to help plants absorb sunlight. （ A） While sitting in their schools courtyard. （ B） While playing games on their phones. （ C） While solving a mathematical problem. （ D） While doing a

6、chemical experiment. （ A） It increases the applications of mobile phones. （ B） It speeds up the process of photosynthesis. （ C） It improves the reception of mobile phones. （ D） It collects the energy released by plants. Section B （ A） He visited the workshops in the Grimsby plant. （ B） He called the

7、 woman and left her a message. （ C） He used stand-ins as replacements on all lines. （ D） He asked a technician to fix the broken production line. （ A） It is the most modern production line. （ B） It assembles super-intelligent robots. （ C） It has stopped working completely. （ D） It is going to be upg

8、raded soon. （ A） To seek her permission. （ B） To place an order for robots. （ C） To request her to return at once. （ D） To ask for Toms phone number. （ A） She is on duty. （ B） She is having her day off. （ C） She is on sick leave. （ D） She is abroad on business. （ A） He saved a baby boys life. （ B） H

9、e wanted to be a superhero. （ C） He prevented a train crash. （ D） He was a witness to an accident. （ A） He has a 9-month-old boy. （ B） He is currently unemployed. （ C） He enjoys the interview. （ D） He commutes by subway. （ A） A rock on the tracks. （ B） A misplaced pushchair. （ C） A strong wind. （ D）

10、 A speeding car. （ A） She stood motionless in shock. （ B） She cried bitterly. （ C） She called the police at once. （ D） She shouted for help. Section C （ A） She inherited her family ice-cream business in Billings. （ B） She loved the ice-cream business more than teaching primary school. （ C） She start

11、ed an ice-cream business to finance her daughters education. （ D） She wanted to have an ice-cream truck when she was a little girl. （ A） To preserve a tradition. （ B） To amuse her daughter. （ C） To help local education. （ D） To make some extra money. （ A） To raise money for business expansion. （ B）

12、To make her truck attractive to children. （ C） To allow poor kids to have ice-cream too. （ D） To teach kids the value of mutual support. （ A） The reasons for imposing taxes. （ B） The various services money can buy. （ C） The various burdens on ordinary citizens. （ D） The function of money in the mode

13、m world. （ A） Educating and training citizens. （ B） Improving public transportation. （ C） Protecting peoples life and property. （ D） Building hospitals and public libraries. （ A） By asking for donations. （ B） By selling public lands. （ C） By selling government bonds. （ D） By exploiting natural resou

14、rces. （ A） It is located at the center of the European continent. （ B） It relies on tourism as its chief source of revenues. （ C） It contains less than a square mile of land. （ D） It is surrounded by France on three sides. （ A） Its beauty is frequently mentioned in American media. （ B） Its ruler Pri

15、nce Rainier married an American actress. （ C） It is where many American movies are shot. （ D） It is a favorite place Americans like to visit. （ A） Tobacco. （ B） Potatoes. （ C） Machinery. （ D） Clothing. （ A） European history. （ B） European geography. （ C） Small countries in Europe. （ D） Tourist attra

16、ctions in Europe. Section A 26 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【 C1】 _ that belief, questioning whether brains really can be distinguished by gender. In the

17、study, Tel Aviv University researchers【 C2】 _ for sex differences throughout the entire human brain. And what did they find? Not much. Rather than offer evidence for【 C3】 _ brains as “male“ or “female,“ research shows that brains fall into a wide range, with most people falling right in the middle.

18、Daphna Joel, who led the study, said her research found that while there are some gender-based【 C4】 _ , many different types of brain cant always be distinguished by gender. While the “average“ male and “average“ female brains were【 C5】 _ different, you couldnt tell it by looking at individual brain

19、 scans. Only a small【 C6】 _ 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【 C7】 _ beliefs about gender and brain function. But he cautioned against concludin

20、g from this study that all brains are the same,【 C8】_ of gender. “Theres a mountain of evidence【 C9】 _ the importance of sex influences at all levels of brain function,“he told The Seattle Times. If anything, he said, the study【 C10】 _ that gender plays a very important role in the brain“even when w

21、e are not clear exactly how. “ A)abnormal I)regardless B)applied J)searched C)briefly K)similarities D)categorizing L)slightly E)challenges M)suggests F)figure N)tastes G)percentage O)traditional H)proving 27 【 C1】 28 【 C2】 29 【 C3】 30 【 C4】 31 【 C5】 32 【 C6】 33 【 C7】 34 【 C8】 35 【 C9】 36 【 C10】 Sec

22、tion B 36 Can Burglars Jam Your Wireless Security System? A)Any product that promises to protect your home deserves careful examination. So it isnt surprising that youll find plenty of strong opinions about the potential vulnerabilities of popular home-security systems. B)The most likely type of bur

23、glary(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 for roughly two-thirds of all household burglaries in the US in 2013. The wide majority of the rest were illegal, unforced entries

24、 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 doesnt even track those statistics. C)One of the main theoretical home-security concerns is whether or not a given system is vulnerable to b

25、eing 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 th

26、ey detect something wrong while the system is armed, theyll transmit a wireless alert signal to a base station that will then raise the alarm. That approach will eliminate most cord-cutting concernsbut what about their wireless equivalent, jamming? With the right device tuned to the right frequency,

27、 whats 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 theyre not unique to security systems. Any device thats built to receive a wireless signal at a specific frequency can be overwhelmed by a strong

28、er signal coming in on the same frequency. For comparison, lets say you wanted to “jam“ a conversation between two peopleall youd need to do is yell in the listeners ear. E)Security devices are required to list the frequencies they broadcast onthat means that a potential thief can find what they nee

29、d to know with minimal Googling. They will, however, need to know what system theyre looking for. If you have a sign in your yard declaring what setup you use, thatd point them in the right direction, though at that point, were talking about a highly targeted, semi-sophisticated attack, and not the

30、sort of forced-entry attack that makes up the majority of burglaries. Its 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 Editors Choic

31、e distinction, utilizes a special system thats capable of separating incidental RF interference from targeted jamming attacks. When the system thinks its being jammed, itll notify you via push alert(推送警报 ). From there, its up to you to sound the alarm manually. G)SimpliSafe was singled out in one re

32、cent 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 its possible wit

33、h the right equipment. However, we also verified that SimpliSafes anti-jamming system works. It caught us in the act, sent an alert to my smartphone, and also listed our RF interference on the systems event log. The team behind the article and video in question make no mention of the system, or whet

34、her or not it detected them. H)We like the unique nature of that software. It means that a thief likely wouldnt 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 t

35、o system, which means there wouldnt 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 arent any documented cases

36、 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, its possible to jam any wireless transmission. But how probable is it that someone will suc

37、cessfully jam their way into your home and steal your stuff? J)Lets imagine that you live in a small home with a wireless security setup that offers a functional antijamming system. First, a thief is going to need to target your home, specifically. Then, hes going to need to know the technical detai

38、ls of your system and acquire the specific equipment necessary for jamming your specific setup. Presumably, you keep your doors locked at night and while youre away, so the thief will still need to break in. That means defeating the lock somehow, or breaking a window. Hell need to be jamming you at

39、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 hes inside and searching for things to steal. However, hell need to do so without tripping the anti-jamming system, the de

40、tails 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. Theyre also only a single layer in what should ideally be a

41、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 theo

42、retically 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. 37 It is possible for burglars to make jamming attacks with the necessary equipment and skill. 38 Interfering with a

43、 wireless security system is similar to interfering with a conversation. 39 A burglar has to continuously jam the wireless security device to avoid triggering the alarm, both inside and outside the house. 40 SimpliSafe provides devices that are able to distinguish incidental radio interference from

44、targeted jamming attacks. 41 Only a very small proportion of burglaries are committed by technical means. 42 It is difficult to crack SimpliSafe as its system keeps changing. 43 Wireless devices will transmit signals so as to activate the alarm once something wrong is detected. 44 Different measures

45、 should be taken to protect ones home from burglary in addition to the wireless security system. 45 SimpliSafes device can send a warning to the house owners cellphone. 46 Burglars can easily get a security devices frequency by Internet search. Section C 46 As a person who writes about food and drin

46、k for a living, I couldnt 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. Thats because he plans to ban tipping in favor of paying his servers an actual living wage. I hate tipping. I hate it because its an obligation d

47、isguised 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

48、 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 mak

49、es 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