1、大学英语四级改革适用（阅读）模拟试卷 268 及答案解析(总分：100.00，做题时间：90 分钟)一、Reading Comprehensio(总题数：5，分数：100.00)1.Part III Reading Comprehension（分数：20.00）_2.Section B（分数：20.00）_Are we ready for the library of the future? A) Librarians today will tell you their job is not so much to take care of books but to give people ac
2、cess to information in all forms. Since librarians, like so many people, believe that the entire universe of commerce, communication and information is moving to digital form, they are on a reform to give people access to the Internetto prevent them from becoming second-class citizens in an all-digi
3、tal world. Something funny happened on the road to the digital library of the future, though. Far from becoming keepers of the keys to the Grand Database of Universal Knowledge, todays librarians are increasingly finding themselves in an unexpected, overloaded role: They have become the general publ
4、ics last-resort providers of tech support. B) It wasnt supposed to be this way. Todays libraries offer a variety of media and social-cultural eventsthey are “blended libraries,“ to use a term created by Kathleen Imhoff, assistant director of the Broward County Library of Fort Lauderdale, Florida. At
5、 the newly remodeled San Francisco Public Library, the computers are prominently displayed in the center of the library building while the books are all but hidden on the periphery (外围). Imhoff s own library has word processing and other types of software for visitors to use, Internet access, audio
6、CDs, videotapes, concerts, lectures, books and periodicals in three forms (print, microfiche and digital). Many libraries have found that this kind of “blending“ is hugely popular in their communities, and librarians explain the changes in their institutions roles by pointing to the public demand fo
7、r these new services. But other trends are at work, too. C) For some time, libraries have been automating their back-end, behind-the-desk functions for reasons of cost and convenience, just like any other business. Now, the computers have moved out from behind librarians desks and onto the floor whe
8、re the visitors are. This means that, suddenly, library-goers will have to know how to use those computers. This sounds reasonable enough until you take a close look Unfortunately, the same technology that cuts costs and relieves librarians of work behind the scenes increases it for the publicand fo
9、r the librarians at the front desk who have to help the public figure out how to use the technology. The unhappy result: People are simply not finding the information they seek D) If you are just coming to the library to read a book for pleasure and you know what a card catalog is and you have some
10、basic computer skills, then you are going to be OK, But if you are trying to find some specific informationsay, whether software in the classroom helps kids learn better or the causes of lung cancer or the basic procedure for doing a cost-benefit analysis of computer systems (three topics I have act
11、ually tried to look up in the San Francisco library)then youre in trouble. E) To begin with, library visitors must now be able to type, to use a mouse and a menu and to understand the various types of computer interfaces (terminal text, windows and browsers). Its also nice if you know 17 different w
12、ays to quit a program, which electronic databases you should look in for what kinds of information, the grammar necessary to define your search and the Library of Congress controlled vocabulary. After I had been to the new San Francisco library three times, I started keeping a folder of instructions
13、 on how to do a keyword search, since I would forget between visits. F) Probably 50% of the population has never used a computer, fewer know how to type and almost nobody knows anything about electronic databases or searching grammar. As a result, the public library is now engaged in a massive attem
14、pt to teach computer literacy to the entire country. Some librarians compare it to the adult literacy programs the library also sponsors, but this is on a far larger scaleand less closely tied to the librarys traditional mission. The response at each library system has been different. Some libraries
15、 actually give courses in word processing, accounting program and so on. But even at libraries where the staff has resisted becoming computer trainers, they are still forced to devote significant resources to the problem. G) Such has been the case in San Francisco, where people with disabilities can
16、 sign up to use the voice-recognition program Dragon Dictatebut only if they can prove they already know how to use the software. The librarians have neither the time nor the peculiar skill (nor the time to develop the skill) to teach it to them. At the reference desks, librarians try not to spend a
17、 lot of time teaching people the basics of how to use the computer, but sometimes its unavoidable. “We try to get them started,“ says business librarian John Kenney. “We let them do as much as they can on their own and they come get us. Its certainly a big problem.“ H) The San Francisco library offe
18、rs classes on its own electronic catalog, commercial periodical indexes and the Internet twice a week as well as occasional lectures about the Internet. Although it seems odd to me that people now need to take a two-hour class before they can use the library, the classes are always full. But despite
19、 the excellent teachers, two hours is simply not enough to meet the needs of the students, many of whom have never used a computer before in their lives and many of whom simply cant type. When I took the class one Tuesday, the man sitting next to me said he has used the librarys computer catalog man
20、y times, but he keeps making typing mistakes without knowing it. This unexpectedly throws him into the wrong screens and he doesnt know how to get back. On the floor, he repeatedly has to ask a librarian for help. I) “Providing technology does not mean people can use the technology,“ says Marc Webb,
21、 a San Francisco librarian and one of the teachers. “Half the voters are still trying to read English.“ The library has also had to deal with the practical difficulties of making its catalog accessible via the Internet, a new service many libraries are starting to offer. “Its absolutely overwhelming
22、,“ Webb says. “Everyone is getting to us with multiple transports, theyre all using different software, they have Winsock or Telnet set up differently, and suddenly the library is forced to become a hardware and software help desk. When youre trying to tell someone over the telephone how to set up W
23、insock through AOL when this is the first time theyve ever used a computer, its very difficult.“（分数：20.00）(1).Computers are more prominently displayed than books in San Francisco Public Library.（分数：2.00）填空项 1:_(2).Libraries have been automating their back-end, behind-the-desk functions in considerat
24、ion of cost and convenience.（分数：2.00）填空项 1:_(3).Recently, many libraries are trying to provide the visitors with a new service: making their catalogs accessible via the Internet.（分数：2.00）填空项 1:_(4).As 50% of the population may have never used a computer, the public library now has been engaged in co
25、mputer literacy programs.（分数：2.00）填空项 1:_(5).In todays libraries, the librarians are playing an unexpected role as a provider of tech support for the public.（分数：2.00）填空项 1:_(6).Library visitors have to know how to type and use a mouse if they want to seek information in the modern library.（分数：2.00）填
26、空项 1:_(7).If you have some basic knowledge of card catalogue and computer skills, you will be able to read a book for pleasure.（分数：2.00）填空项 1:_(8).The San Francisco library regularly provides classes on computers skills and the Internet.（分数：2.00）填空项 1:_(9).Blended libraries are hugely popular in com
27、munities at the present time.（分数：2.00）填空项 1:_(10).Dragon Dictate is the software which is used to help the disabled in library use.（分数：2.00）填空项 1:_Here comes the e-book revolution A) At what temperature do electronic books catch fire? Were going to find out sometime this year. E-book sales are about
28、 to ignite. On Monday, A is expected to unveil a new version of its Kindle reader. It will probably be a lot better and a little cheaper than the first version. But the real news already broke this week: A company spokesman announced that Amazon plans to offer Kindle books on Cell Phones. This news
29、countered Googles announcement that the 1.5 million public domain books available on its Google Book Search offering will soon be available (free, of course) via a new Cell Phone application. B) I believe that Cell Phones will quickly outpace the dedicated e-book readers, including the Kindle, as th
30、e platform of choice for e-book readers. Leading the pack? The iPhone, ironically. Its worth noting that A sold more Kindles (at least 500,000) in its first year of sales than Apple sold iPods in its first year (378,000). Apple may not understand the value of e-books, but iPhone users will embrace t
31、hem anyway. The reason is simple: The iPhone has a huge, high-quality screen. And its user base includes millions of people who love to do everything on their iPhones, including reading, which theyre already doing with online content. I (and others) have been predicting for some time that Apple will
32、 ship a killer tablet at some point. This device, I believe, will have the iPhone user interface and a super high-quality screen. It will be ideal for reading e-books as well. C) Just because e-books are available on better (the new Kindle) and more (all Cell Phones) devices doesnt mean people will
33、read them. But mark my words, read them they will. Six trends will conspire (共同促成) over the next year to drive e-book reading to levels that will surprise just about everybody. D) The economy is in the tank, and people are looking to cut costs any way they can. An Amazon Kindle pays for itself after
34、 the purchase of 20 or 30 books, then starts paying dividends. You save big on books, magazines and newspapers. These savings will grow even more attractive as the recession deepens. E) Interest in protecting the environment just keeps growing and growing. The idea of getting a daily newspaper or a
35、weekly or monthly magazine on paper seems incredibly wasteful to the point of decadence. Environmental consciousness will drive e-book acceptance. F) The book publishing industry is one of the most backward, musty, out-of-date businesses in our economy. While every other kind of information moves at
36、 the speed of light, the process of publishing a book is like something from the Middle Ages. For authors, it can take months to even find a literary agent willing to represent their work. Then the agent takes months to find a publisher. Then it takes ages for the publishing company to get the book
37、out there. People are already circumventing (设法回避) all this by self-publishing. The self-publishing industry is the only area of paper-book publishing thats thriving right now. Soon enough, a huge number of authors are finally going to get fed up with the publishing industry and just self-publish el
38、ectronically. Theyll hire their own freelance editors, and do the marketing themselves. The publication of a finished manuscript will take minutes, rather than months. G) Old-school thinkers in the publishing industry will lament (悲叹) the slap-dash nature of self-published e-books, and sniff that bo
39、oks are no longer published with the quality and care that they used to. (Never mind that book publishers abandoned high standards years ago in previous cost-cutting initiatives.) The world will pass them by as the book industry undergoes the same transition that happened with the media and blogs. F
40、irst, the media didnt understand blogs. Then they invalidated them. Then they accepted them. And now blogs are where the credibility is. Every columnist and reporter has a blog, and now major TV news programs are built around the opinions of blog-gers. A similar transformation will take place about
41、the credibility of self-published and electronic books. H) Like the move from silent pictures to “talkies,“ the transition to electronic publishing will prove fatal to laggards. Those aggressively pursuing and developing e-books will rise to take control of the publishing industry. Part of this revo
42、lution will happen in e-book marketing. The new generation of e-book publishers will leverage social media, contextual advertising and other innovations. For anyone who spends time online, specific e-book titles will increasingly be advertised and marketed and integrated into other content. E-books,
43、 now mostly invisible, will soon be everywhere. I) The shift from print to electronic will change the nature of the book itself. Many books will be shorter. Theyll be more timely and culturally relevant. Theyll be more colorfully and engagingly written. And theyll go after young readers like nothing
44、 before. As in Japan, this will spark a new cultural phenomenon of young people not just reading, but also writing novels and other book types on their mobile devices. The idea that “people dont read anymore,“ especially young people, will be revealed as false. Young people today read more, and writ
45、e a lot more, than any generation in history. To date, theyve been unexcited about books, magazines and newspapers because they grew up with social networking and social media. Once books are electronic, relevant and social, too, theyll start reading and writing books like crazy. J) And, finally, th
46、e newspaper industry is dying. The old method of physically delivering blog entries on dead tree pulp is out-of-date. Its very simple. Newspapers that embrace e-books will survive. Those that dont, wont. If youd like to get a stark view of the relative economics of electronic vs. paper newspapers, c
47、heck out a blog post on the Silicon Valley Insider. The blog did the math and determined that the New York Times could buy every single subscriber an Amazon Kindle e-book reader, and it would still cost them half as much as it will cost them to send paper newspapers for just one year. After decades
48、of false starts, the e-book revolution is finally upon us. By this time next year, e-books will be totally mainstream.（分数：20.00）(1).Young people will be keen on reading and writing books when books are electronic, relevant and social.（分数：2.00）填空项 1:_(2).In the self-publishing industry, the marketing of a book is done by the author.（分数：2.00）填空项 1:_(3).The credibility of blogs used to be not accepted by the media.（分数：2.00）填空项 1:_(4).It
