[外语类试卷]大学英语四级模拟试卷820及答案与解析.doc

1、大学英语四级模拟试卷 820及答案与解析 一、 Part I Writing (30 minutes) 1 For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write a composition on Exploding Firecrackers or Fireworks. Your composition should be based on the outline given below in Chinese. You should write at least 120 words. 1. 支持放烟花爆竹的人的观点 2反对的人的观点 3你的观点 二

2、、 Part II Reading Comprehension (Skimming and Scanning) (15 minutes) Directions: In this part, you will have 15 minutes to go over the passage quickly and answer the questions attached to the passage. For questions 1-7, mark： Y (for YES) if the statement agrees with the information given in the pass

3、age; N (for NO) if the statement contradicts the information given in the passage; NG (for NOT GIVEN) if the information is not given in the passage. 1 Trust Me, I Am a Robot Robot safety: as robots move into homes and offices, ensuring that they do not injure people will be vital. But how? The inci

4、dent In 1981 Kenji Urada, a 37-year-old Japanese factory worker, climbed over a safety fence at a Kawasaki plant to carry out some maintenance work on a robot. In his haste, he failed to switch the robot off properly. Unable to sense him, the robots powerful hydraulic arm kept on working and acciden

5、tally pushed the engineer into a grinding machine. His death made Urada the first recorded victim to die at the hands of a robot. This gruesome industrial accident would not have happened in a world in which robot behaviour was governed by the Three Laws of Robotics drawn up by Isaac Asimov, a scien

6、ce-fiction writer. The laws appeared in I, Robot, a book of short stories published in 1950 that inspired a recent Hollywood film. But decades later the laws, designed to prevent robots from harming people either through action or inaction, remain in the realm of fiction. Indeed, despite the introdu

7、ction of improved safety mechanisms, robots have claimed many more victims since 198 I. Over the years people have been crushed, hit on the head, welded and even had molten aluminium poured over them by robots. Last year there were 77 robot-related accidents in Britain alone, according to the Health

8、 and Safety Executive. More related issues With robots now poised to emerge from their industrial cages and to move into homes and workplaces, roboticists are concerned about the safety implications beyond the factory floor. To address these concerns, leading robot experts have come together to try

9、to find ways to prevent robots from harming people. Inspired by the Pugwash Conferences-an international group of scientists, academics and activists founded in 1957 to campaign for the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons the new group of robo-ethicists met earlier this year in Genoa, Italy, and an

10、nounced their initial findings in March at the European Robotics Symposium in Palermo, Sicily. “Security, safety and sex are the big concerns,“ says Henrik Christensen, chairman of the European Robotics Network at the Swedish Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, and one of the organisers of t

11、he new robo-ethics group. Should robots that are strong enough or heavy enough to crush people be allowed into homes? Is “system malfunction“ a justifiable defence for a robotic fighter plane that contravenes the Geneva Convention and mistakenly fires on innocent civilians? And should robotic sex do

12、lls resembling children be legally allowed? These questions may seem esoteric but in the next few years they will become increasingly relevant, says Dr. Christensen. According to the United Nations Economic Commission for Europes World Robotics Survey, in 2002 the number of domestic and service robo

13、ts more than tripled, nearly surpassing their industrial counterparts. By the end of 2003 there were more than 600,000 robot vacuum cleaners and lawn mowers a figure predicted to rise to more than 4m by the end of next year. Japanese industrial firms are racing to build humanoid robots to act as dom

14、estic helpers for the elderly, and South Korea has set a goal that 100% of households should have domestic robots by 2020. In light of all this, it is crucial that we start to think about safety and ethical guidelines now, says Dr. Christensen. Difficulties So what exactly is being done to protect u

15、s from these mechanical menaces? “Not enough,“ says Blay Whitby, an artificial-intelligence expert at the University of Sussex in England. This is hardly surprising given that the field of “safety-critical computing“ is barely a decade old, he says. But things are changing, and researchers are incre

16、asingly taking an interest in trying to make robots safer. Regulating the behaviour of robots is going to become more difficult in the future, since they will increasingly have self-learning mechanisms built into them, says Gianmarco Veruggio, a roboticist in Italy. As a result, their behaviour will

17、 become impossible to predict fully, he says, since they will not be behaving in predefined ways but will learn new behaviour as they go. Then there is the question of unpredictable failures. What happens if a robots motors stop working, or it suffers a system failure just as it is performing heart

18、surgery or handing you a cup of hot coffee? You can, of course, build in redundancy by adding backup systems, says Hirochika Inoue, a veteran roboticist at the University of Tokyo who is now an adviser to the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science. But this guarantees nothing, he says. “One hund

19、red percent safety is impossible through technology,“ says Dr. Inoue. This is because ultimately no matter how thorough you are, you cannot anticipate the unpredictable nature of human behaviour, he says. Legal problems So where does this leave Asimovs Three Laws of Robotics? They were a narrative d

20、evice, and were never actually meant to work in the real world, says Dr. Whitby. Let alone the fact that the laws require the robot to have some form of human-like intelligence, which robots still lack, the laws themselves dont actually work very well. Indeed, Asimov repeatedly knocked them down in

21、his robot stories, showing time and again how these seemingly watertight roles could produce unintended consequences. In any case, says Dr. Inoue, the laws really just encapsulate commonsense principles that are already applied to the design of most modem appliances, both domestic and industrial. Ev

22、ery toaster, lawn mower and mobile phone is designed to minimise the risk of causing injury yet people still manage to electrocute themselves, lose fingers or fall out of windows in an effort to get a better signal. At the very least, robots must meet the rigorous safety standards that cover existin

23、g products The question is whether new, robot-specific rules are needed- and, if so, what they should say. “Making sure robots are safe will be critical,“ says Colin Angle of Robot, which has sold over 2m “Roomba“ household-vacuuming robots. But be argues that his firms robots are, in fact, much saf

24、er than some popular toys. But what he believes is that robot is just like other home appliances that deserves no special treatment. Robot safety is likely to appear in the civil courts as a matter of product liability. “When the first robot carpet-sweeper sucks up a baby, who will be to blame?“ ask

25、s John Hallam, a professor at the University of Southern Denmark in Odense. If a robot is autonomous and capable of learning, can its designer be held responsible for all its actions? Today the answer to these questions is generally “yes“. But as robots grow in complexity it will become a lot less c

26、lear cut, he says. However, the idea that general-purpose robots, capable of learning, will become widespread is wrong, suggests Mr. Angle. It is more likely, he believes, that robots will be relatively dumb machines designed for particular tasks. Rather than a humanoid robot maid, “it s going to be

27、 a heterogeneous swarm of robots that will take care of the house,“ he says. 2 This passage is mainly about the benefits of developing robots and how people are going to get used to living with robots in their office and home. （ A） Y （ B） N （ C） NG 3 The Three Laws of Robotics mentioned in this pass

28、age only exited in a book of short stories. （ A） Y （ B） N （ C） NG 4 Although people have realized the danger of robots and began to introduce and improve the safety mechanisms, there is still increasing number of people dying at the hands of robots since 1981. （ A） Y （ B） N （ C） NG 5 It can be infer

29、red from this passage that the Pugwash Conference and the meeting in Genoa, Italy had come up with similar measures against potential dangers. （ A） Y （ B） N （ C） NG 6 As Henrik Christensen pointed out, three big concerns related to robots were security, safety, and sex. （ A） Y （ B） N （ C） NG 7 Accor

30、ding to the passage, East Asia is more likely to have more problems related to robot than western countries because they have a more ambitious plan for robot development. （ A） Y （ B） N （ C） NG 8 With advancement in the field of artificial-intelligence, it will be easier to regulate the behavior of r

31、obots in the future. （ A） Y （ B） N （ C） NG 9 To avoid unpredictable failures, Hirochika Inoue suggests building in_by adding backup systems, but he also points out it might not guarantee everything. 10 There will be indeed unpredictable events; however, people believe that at least, robots must meet

32、 the rigorous safety standards that cover_. 11 People believe that though it is possible that there will be more robots handling particular tasks, the general-purpose robots which are_will not be possible. Section A Directions: In this section, you will hear 8 short conversations and 2 long conversa

33、tions. At the end of each conversation, one or more questions will be asked about what was said. Both the conversation and the questions will be spoken only once. After each question there will be a pause. During the pause, you must read the four choices marked A, B, C and D, and decide which is the

34、 best answer. （ A） He enjoys reading letters. （ B） He has been job-hunting. （ C） He is offering a job. （ D） He is working for a factory. （ A） She envies Sams relationship with his mother. （ B） She gets along extremely well with her son. （ C） She doesnt know Sam or his mother. （ D） Her son is the sam

35、e age as Sam. （ A） It is too expensive and the dining room is below expectation. （ B） The dining room is OK but the living room is too small. （ C） The living room should be a little bigger. （ D） The dining room should be a little smaller. （ A） She thinks shes very organized. （ B） She doesnt want to

36、join the display. （ C） She doesnt think she should lead the study group. （ D） She knows someone who can lead the study group. （ A） She ought to buy her own copy machine. （ B） She needs to buy a package of paper. （ C） She has already used enough paper. （ D） She should have someone copy for her. （ A）

37、They both enjoyed watching the game together. （ B） They both felt good about the results of the game. （ C） People were surprised at their winning the game. （ D） The results were beyond the womans expectation. （ A） A check account. （ B） A loan from the bank. （ C） An insurance claim. （ D） An income ta

38、x return. （ A） She holds the same view with the man. （ B） The man missed the last study session. （ C） She didnt understand the last chemistry class. （ D） The man should be more serious about his studies. （ A） To make an appointment to look at a house. （ B） To get information about special housing. （

39、 C） To ask about getting a loan to buy a house. （ D） To renew his housing contract. （ A） With his grandparents. （ B） In student housing. （ C） With his wifes parents. （ D） In his own apartment. （ A） He has more than one child. （ B） His wife is a graduate student. （ C） He is a full-time student. （ D）

40、He works at the university housing office. （ A） The country. （ B） Another country. （ C） Cornfield. （ D） Birmingham. （ A） He might get his passport. （ B） He might get some money and clothes. （ C） He might make himself armed. （ D） He might make a call. （ A） He will meet her in another country. （ B） Th

41、ey will go to another country together. （ C） He will leave her in the country. （ D） He will appear somewhere near her. （ A） By air. （ B） By car. （ C） By sea. （ D） By train. Section B Directions: In this section, you will hear 3 short passages. At the end of each passage, you will hear some questions

42、. 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. （ A） A kind of chart used to keep track of days, months and years. （ B） A kind of book used to express days of months. （ C） A list of

43、the animals names. （ D） A list of holidays. （ A） Divided into 12- month cycles. （ B） Divided into 6- month cycles. （ C） Divided into 10 - year cycles. （ D） Divided into 12 - year cycles. （ A） A day for any year. （ B） The animal for any year. （ C） The month for any year. （ D） The week for any month.

44、（ A） Their roots are unknown to us. （ B） They came from France and Great Britain. （ C） They came from European countries. （ D） They came from America. （ A） To welcome the kings arrival. （ B） To harvest more foods. （ C） To help the king walk through their countryside. （ D） To avoid their lands being

45、destroyed by the kings roads. （ A） By pulling down the fence. （ B） By accepting the punishment. （ C） By pretending to be mad. （ D） By overthrowing the kings rule. （ A） Beside a window. （ B） Next to a pretty girl. （ C） In the front of the plane. （ D） Anywhere but by the window. Section C Directions:

46、In this section, you will hear a passage three times. When the passage is read for the first time, you should listen carefully for its general idea. When the passage is read for the second time, you are required to fill in the blanks numbered from 36 to 43 with the exact words you have just heard. F

47、or blanks numbered from 44 to 46 you are required to fill in the missing information. For these blanks, you can either use the exact words you have just heard or write down the 33 China said Thursday it will continue the countrys【 B1】 _share reform in an orderly manner and on the basis of maintainin

48、g【 B2】 _development of its capital market while protecting the legitimate rights of investors. Participants at a meeting held by Chinas Share Reform Leading Group said the reform has been going on【 B3】 _since the Chinese government approved the pilot share reform on April 29 of this year. Provincial

49、 officials in charge of the reform also【 B4】 _the meeting, which called for【 B5】 _ of policies to【 B6】 _the success of the reform. The Chinese government published a nine-point strategy to revive the capital market in February, 2004, stating that a【 B7】 _and healthy capital market is essential for the countrys【 B8】 _ reform and development. 【 B9】 _tradable through arrangements between the listed firms or their controlling share holders and public investors. Under