1、大学英语四级-96 及答案解析(总分：100.00，做题时间：90 分钟)一、Reading Comprehensio(总题数：4，分数：100.00)It“s very interesting to note where the debate about diversity (多样化) is taking place. It is taking place primarily in political circles. Here at the College Fund, we have a lot of contact with top corporate (公司的) leaders; no
2、ne of them is talking about getting rid of those instruments that produce diversity. In fact, they say that if their companies are to compete in the global village and in the global market place, diversity is an imperative. They also say that the need for talented, skilled Americans means we have to
3、 expand the pool of potential employees. And in looking at where birth rates are growing and at where the population is shifting, corporate America understands that expanding the pool means promoting policies that help provide skills to more minorities, more women and more immigrants. Corporate lead
4、ers know that if that doesn“t occur in our society, they will not have the engineers, the scientists, the lawyers, or the business managers they will need. Likewise, I don“t hear people in the academy saying. “Let“s go backward. Let“s go back to the good old days, when we had a meritocracy (不拘一格选人才)
5、“ (which was never truewe never had a meritocracy, although we“ve come closer to it in the last 30 years). I recently visited a great little college in New York where the campus has doubled its minority population in the last six years. I talked with an African American who has been a professor ther
6、e for a long time, and she remembers that when she first joined the community, there were fewer than a handful of minorities on campus. Now, all of us feel the university is better because of the diversity. So where we hear this debate is primarily in political circles and in the medianot in corpora
7、te board rooms or on college campuses.（分数：25.00）(1).The word “imperative“ (Line 5, Para. 1) most probably refers to something _.（分数：5.00）A.superficialB.remarkableC.debatableD.essential(2).Which of the following groups of people still differ in their views on diversity?（分数：5.00）A.Minorities.B.Politic
8、ians.C.Professors.D.Managers.(3).High corporate leaders seem to be in favor of promoting diversity so as to _.（分数：5.00）A.lower the rate of unemploymentB.win equal political rights for minoritiesC.be competitive in the world marketD.satisfy the demands of a growing population(4).It can be inferred fr
9、om the passage that _.（分数：5.00）A.meritocracy can never be realized without diversityB.American political circles will not accept diversityC.it is unlikely that diversity will occur in the U.S. mediaD.minorities can only enter the fields where no debate is heard about diversity(5).According to the pa
10、ssage diversity can be achieved in American society by _.（分数：5.00）A.expanding the pool of potential employeesB.promoting policies that provide skills to employeesC.training more engineers, scientists lawyers and business managersD.providing education for all regardless of race or sexThere is no deny
11、ing that students should learn something about how computers work, just as we expect them at least to understand that the internal-combustion engine (内燃机 )has something to do with burning fuel, expanding gases and pistons (活塞) being driven. For people should have some basic idea of how the things th
12、at they use do what they do. Further, students might be helped by a course that considers the computer“s impact on society. But that is not what is meant by computer literacy. For computer literacy is not a form of literacy; it is a trade skill that should not be taught as a liberal art. Learning ho
13、w to use a computer and learning how to program one are two distinct activities. A case might be made that the competent citizens of tomorrow should free themselves from their fear of computers. But this is quite different from saying that all ought to know how to program one. Leave that to people w
14、ho have chosen programming as a career. While programming can be lots of fun, and while our society needs some people who are experts at it, the same is true of auto repair and violin-making. Learning how to use a computer is not that difficult, and it gets easier all the time as programs become mor
15、e “user-friendly“. Let us assume that in the future everyone is going to have to know how to use a computer to be a competent citizen. What does the phrase “learning to use a computer“ mean? It sounds like “learning to drive a car“, that is, it sounds as if there is some set of definite skills that,
16、 once acquired, enable one to use a computer. In fact, “learning to use a computer“ is much more like “learning to play a game“, but learning the rules of one game may not help you play a second game, whose rules may not be the same. There is no such a thing as teaching someone how to use a computer
17、. One can only teach people to use this or that program and generally that is easily accomplished.（分数：25.00）(1).To be the competent citizens of tomorrow, people should _.（分数：5.00）A.try to lay a solid foundation in computer scienceB.be aware of how the things that they use do what they doC.learn to u
18、se a computer by acquiring a certain set of skillsD.understand that programming a computer is more essential than repairing a car(2).In the second paragraph “auto repair“ and “violin-making“ are mentioned to show that _.（分数：5.00）A.programming a computer is as interesting as making a violinB.our soci
19、ety needs experts in different fieldsC.violin-making requires as much skill as computer programmingD.people who can use a computer don“t necessarily have to know computer programming(3).Learning to use a computer is getting easier all the time because _.（分数：5.00）A.programs are becoming less complica
20、tedB.programs are designed to be convenient to usersC.programming is becoming easier and easierD.programs are becoming readily available to computer users(4).According to the author, the phrase “learning to use a computer“ (Line 3, Para 3) means learning _.（分数：5.00）A.a set of rulesB.the fundamentals
21、 of computer scienceC.specific programsD.general principles of programming(5).The author“s purpose in writing this passage is _.（分数：5.00）A.to stress the impact of the computer on societyB.to explain the concept of computer literacyC.to illustrate the requirements for being competent citizens of tomo
22、rrowD.to emphasize that computer programming is an interesting and challenging jobOn average, American kids aged 3 to 12 spent 29 hours a week in school, eight hours more than they did in 1981. They also did more household work and participated in more of such organized activities as soccer and ball
23、et (芭蕾舞). Involvement in sports, in particular, rose almost 50% from 1981 to 1997: boys now spend an average of four hours a week playing sports; girls log half that time. All in all, however, children“s leisure time dropped from 40% of the day in 1981 to 25%. “Children are affected by the same time
24、 crunch (危机) that affects their parents,“ says Sandra Hofferth, who headed the recent study of children“s timetable. A chief reason, she says, is that more mothers are working outside the home. (Nevertheless, children in both double-income and “male breadwinner“ households spent comparable amounts o
25、f time interacting with their parents, 19 hours and 22 hours respectively. In contrast, children spent only 9 hours with their single mothers.) All work and no play could make for some very messed-up kids. “Play is the most powerful way a child explores the world and learns about himself,“ says T. B
26、erry Brazelton, professor at Harvard Medical School. Unstructured play encourages independent thinking and allows the young to negotiate their relationships with their peers, but kids aged 3 to 12 spent only 12 hours a week engaged in it. The children sampled spent a quarter of their rapidly decreas
27、ing “free time“ watching television. But that, believe it or not, was one of the findings parents might regard as good news. If they“re spending less time in front of the TV set, however, kids aren“t replacing it with reading. Despite efforts to get kids more interested in books, the children spent
28、just over an hour a week reading. Let“s face it, who“s got the time?（分数：25.00）(1).By mentioning “the same time crunch“ (Line 1, Para. 2) Sandra Hofferth means _.（分数：5.00）A.children have little time to play with their parentsB.children are not taken good care of by their working parentsC.both parents
29、 and children suffer from lack of leisure timeD.both parents and children have trouble managing their time(2).According to the author, the reason given by Sandra Hofferth for the time crunch is _.（分数：5.00）A.quite convincingB.partially trueC.totally groundlessD.rather confusing(3).According to the au
30、thor a child develops better if _.（分数：5.00）A.he has plenty of time reading and studyingB.he is left to play with his peers in his own wayC.he has more time participating in school activitiesD.he is free to interact with his working parents(4).The author is concerned about the fact that American kids
31、 _.（分数：5.00）A.are engaged in more and more structured activitiesB.are increasingly neglected by their working mothersC.are spending more and more time watching TVD.are involved less and less in household work(5).We can infer from the passage that _.（分数：5.00）A.extracurricular activities promote child
32、ren“s intelligenceB.most children will turn to reading with TV sets switched offC.efforts to get kids interested in reading have been fruitfulD.most parents believe reading to be beneficial to childrenPeople become quite illogical when they try to decide what can be eaten and what cannot. If you riv
33、ed in the Mediterranean, for instance, you would consider octopus (章鱼) a great delicacy (美味佳肴). You would not be able to understand why some people find it repulsive. On the other hand, your stomach would turn at the idea of frying potatoes in animal fatthe normally accepted practice in many norther
34、n countries. The sad truth is that most of us have been brought up to eat certain foods and we stick to them all our lives. No creature has received more praise and abuse than the common garden snail. Cooked in wine, snails are a great luxury in various parts of the world. There are countless people
35、 who, ever since their early years, have learned to associate snails with food. My friend, Robert, lives in a country where snails are looked down upon. As his flat is in a large town, he has no garden of his own. For years he has been asking me to collect snails from my garden and take them to him.
36、 The idea never appealed to me very much, but one day, after a heavy shower, I happened to be walking in my garden when I noticed a huge number of snails taking a walk on some of my prize plants. Acting on a sudden impulse (冲动), I collected several dozen, put them in a paper bag, and took them to Ro
37、bert. Robert was delighted to see me and equally pleased with my little gift. I left the bag in the hall and Robert and I went into the living room where we talked for a couple of hours. I had forgotten all about the snails when Robert suddenly said that I must stay to dinner. Snails would, of cours
38、e, be the main dish. I did not fancy the idea and I reluctantly followed Robert out of the room. To my surprise, we saw that there were snails everywhere, they had escaped from the paper bag and had taken complete possession of the hall. I have never been able to look at a snail since then.（分数：25.00
39、）(1).The word “repulsive“ (Line 3, Para. 1) most probably means “_“.（分数：5.00）A.disgustingB.pleasantC.acceptableD.delicious(2).We can infer from the second paragraph that when collecting the snails, the author _.（分数：5.00）A.was glad that he could share them with his friendB.was angry because they migh
40、t damage his beloved plantsC.was excited about being able to give his friend a surpriseD.was depressed because it was hard to extinguish them all(3).The author finds that snails _.（分数：5.00）A.are as delicious as octopusB.are disliked in his hometownC.are the most controversial foodD.are as popular as
41、 fried potatoes(4).The best title of this passage might be _.（分数：5.00）A.One Man“s Meat is Another Man“s PoisonB.Foods and CulturesC.Snail and OctopusD.People Are Illogical in Front of Delicacies(5).As indicated in the passage, people love different foods mainly because _.（分数：5.00）A.they live in diff
42、erent placesB.they learn to eat certain foods in their familiesC.they have different understandings of delicacyD.they are too illogical to explain大学英语四级-96 答案解析(总分：100.00，做题时间：90 分钟)一、Reading Comprehensio(总题数：4，分数：100.00)It“s very interesting to note where the debate about diversity (多样化) is taking
43、place. It is taking place primarily in political circles. Here at the College Fund, we have a lot of contact with top corporate (公司的) leaders; none of them is talking about getting rid of those instruments that produce diversity. In fact, they say that if their companies are to compete in the global
44、 village and in the global market place, diversity is an imperative. They also say that the need for talented, skilled Americans means we have to expand the pool of potential employees. And in looking at where birth rates are growing and at where the population is shifting, corporate America underst
45、ands that expanding the pool means promoting policies that help provide skills to more minorities, more women and more immigrants. Corporate leaders know that if that doesn“t occur in our society, they will not have the engineers, the scientists, the lawyers, or the business managers they will need.
46、 Likewise, I don“t hear people in the academy saying. “Let“s go backward. Let“s go back to the good old days, when we had a meritocracy (不拘一格选人才)“ (which was never truewe never had a meritocracy, although we“ve come closer to it in the last 30 years). I recently visited a great little college in New
47、 York where the campus has doubled its minority population in the last six years. I talked with an African American who has been a professor there for a long time, and she remembers that when she first joined the community, there were fewer than a handful of minorities on campus. Now, all of us feel
48、 the university is better because of the diversity. So where we hear this debate is primarily in political circles and in the medianot in corporate board rooms or on college campuses.（分数：25.00）(1).The word “imperative“ (Line 5, Para. 1) most probably refers to something _.（分数：5.00）A.superficialB.rem
49、arkableC.debatableD.essential 解析：解析 词义理解题。本句说到公司要在地球村和全球市场上竞争，多样性是 imperative，由前文“没有取消引起多样性的手段”和下文提到的公司对各种各样有技能的美国人的需求可知，多样性对于企业来说应该“必须的”，故 D 正确。(2).Which of the following groups of people still differ in their views on diversity?（分数：5.00）A.Minorities.B.Politicians. C.Professors.D.Managers.解析：解析 事实细节题。第 2 段末句指出这种辩论主要存在于政治圈和媒体中，结合上句内容，可知其中的 this debate 指的就是关于多样性的辩论，故 B 正确。(3).High corporate leaders seem to be in favor of promoting diversity so as to _.（分数：5.00）A.lower the rate of
