1、2014年 6月大学英语四级真题试卷（二）及答案与解析 一、 Part I Writing 1 For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write a short essay on the following question. You should write at least 120 words but no more than 180 words. Suppose a foreign friend of yours is coming to visit your campus, what is the most interesting p
2、lace you would like to take him/her to see and why? Section A （ A） They came in five different colors. （ B） They were good value for money. （ C） They were a very good design. （ D） They were sold out very quickly. （ A） Ask her roommate not to speak loudly on the phone. （ B） Ask her roommate to make h
3、er phone calls outside. （ C） Go and find a quieter place to review her lessons. （ D） Report her problem to the dorm management. （ A） The washing machine is totally beyond repair. （ B） He will help Wendy prepare her annual report. （ C） Wendy should give priority to writing her report. （ D） The washin
4、g machine should be checked annually. （ A） The man fell down when removing the painting. （ B） The wall will be decorated with a new painting. （ C） The woman likes the painting on the wall. （ D） The painting is now being reframed. （ A） It must be missing. （ B） It was left in the room. （ C） The man to
5、ok it to the market. （ D） She placed it on the dressing table. （ A） Go to a play. （ B） Meet Janet. （ C） Book some tickets. （ D） Have a get-together. （ A） One box of books is found missing. （ B） Some of the boxes arrived too late. （ C） Replacements have to be ordered. （ D） Some of the books are damag
6、ed. （ A） The man will pick up Professor Johnson at her office. （ B） The man did not expect his paper to be graded so soon. （ C） Professor Johnson has given the man a very high grade. （ D） Professor Johnson will talk to each student in her office. （ A） To buy a present for his friend who is getting m
7、arried. （ B） To find out the cost for a complete set of cookware. （ C） To see what he could ask his friends to buy for him. （ D） To make inquiries about the price of an electric cooker. （ A） To teach him how to use the kitchenware. （ B） To discuss cooking experiences with him. （ C） To tell him how t
8、o prepare delicious dishes. （ D） To recommend suitable kitchenware to him. （ A） There are so many different sorts of knives. （ B） Cooking devices are such practical presents. （ C） A mixer can save so much time in making cakes. （ D） Saucepans and frying pans are a must in the kitchen. （ A） Some new p
9、roblems in her work. （ B） Cooperation with an international bank. （ C） Her chance for promotion in the bank. （ D） Her intention to leave her present job. （ A） The World Bank. （ B） Bank of Washington. （ C） A US finance corporation. （ D） An investment bank in New York. （ A） Supervising financial trans
10、actions. （ B） Taking charge of public relations. （ C） Making loans to private companies in developing countries. （ D） Offering service to international companies in the United States. （ A） It is a first major step to realizing the womans dream. （ B） It is an honor for the woman and her present emplo
11、yer. （ C） It is a loss for her current company. （ D） It is really beyond his expectation. Section B （ A） Carry out a thorough checkup. （ B） Try to keep the gas tank full. （ C） Keep extra gas in reserve. （ D） Fill up the water tank. （ A） Attempting to leave your car to seek help. （ B） Opening a windo
12、w a bit to let in fresh air. （ C） Running the engine every now and then. （ D） Keeping the heater on for a long time. （ A） It exhausts you physically. （ B） It makes you fall asleep easily. （ C） It causes you to lose body heat. （ D） It consumes too much oxygen. （ A） They are very generous in giving gi
13、fts. （ B） They refuse gifts when doing business. （ C） They regard gifts as a token of friendship. （ D） They give gifts only on special occasions. （ A） They enjoy giving gifts to other people. （ B） They spend a lot of time choosing gifts. （ C） They have to follow many specific rules. （ D） They pay at
14、tention to the quality of gifts. （ A） Gift-giving plays an important role in human relationships. （ B） We must be aware of cultural differences in giving gifts. （ C） We must learn how to give gifts before going abroad. （ D） Reading extensively makes one a better gift-giver. （ A） It reflects American
15、 peoples view of French politics. （ B） It is first published in Washington and then in Paris. （ C） It explains American politics to the French public. （ D） It is popular among French government officials. （ A） Work on her column. （ B） Do housework at home. （ C） Entertain her guests. （ D） Go shopping
16、 downtown. （ A） To report to her newspaper. （ B） To refresh her French. （ C） To visit her parents. （ D） To meet her friends. （ A） She might be recalled to France. （ B） She might change her profession. （ C） She might close her Monday column. （ D） She might be assigned to a new post. Section C 26 Acco
17、rding to American law, if someone is accused of a crime, he is considered【 B1】 _until the court proves the person is guilty. To arrest a person, the police have to be reasonably sure that a crime has been【 B2】_. The police must give the suspect the reasons why they are arresting him and tell him his
18、 rights under the law. Then the police take the suspect to the police station, where the name of the person and the【 B3】 _against him are formally listed. The next step is for the suspect to go before a judge. The judge decides whether the suspect should be kept in jail or【 B4】 _. If the suspect has
19、 no previous criminal record and the judge feels that he will return to court【 B5】 _run away, he can go free. Otherwise, the suspect must put up bail(保释金 ). At this time, too, the judge will【 B6】 _a court lawyer to defend the suspect if he cant afford one. The suspect returns to court a week or two
20、later. A lawyer from the district attorneys office presents a case against the suspect. The attorney may present【 B7】 _as well as witnesses. The judge then decides whether there is enough reason to【 B8】 _. The American justice system is very complex and sometimes operates slowly. However, every step
21、 is【 B9】 _to protect the rights of the people. These individual rights are the【 B10】 _of the American government. 27 【 B1】 28 【 B2】 29 【 B3】 30 【 B4】 31 【 B5】 32 【 B6】 33 【 B7】 34 【 B8】 35 【 B9】 36 【 B10】 Section A 36 Global warming is a trend toward warmer conditions around the world. Part of the w
22、arming is natural; we have experienced a 20,000-year-long warming as the last ice age ended and the ice【 C1】 _away. However, we have already reached temperatures that are in【 C2】 _with other minimum-ice periods, so continued warming is likely not natural. We are【 C3】 _to a predicted worldwide increa
23、se in temperatures【 C4】 _between 1 and 6 over the next 100 years. The warming will be more【 C5】 _in some areas, less in others, and some places may even cool off. Likewise, the【 C6】 _of this warming will be very different depending on where you are coastal areas must worry about rising sea levels, w
24、hile Siberia and northern Canada may become more habitable(宜居的 )and【 C7】 _for humans than these areas are now. The fact remains, however, that it will likely get warmer, on【 C8】 _, everywhere. Scientists are in general agreement that the warmer conditions we have been experiencing are at least in pa
25、rt the result of a human-induced global warming trend. Some scientists【 C9】 _that the changes we are seeing fall within the range of random(无规律的 )variation some years are cold, others warm, and we have just had an unremarkable string of warm years【 C10】 _ but that is becoming an increasingly rare in
26、terpretation in the face of continued and increasing warm conditions. A)appealing I)melted B)average J)persist C)contributing K)ranging D)dramatic L)recently E)frequently M)resolved F)impact N)sensible G)line O)shock H)maintain 37 【 C1】 38 【 C2】 39 【 C3】 40 【 C4】 41 【 C5】 42 【 C6】 43 【 C7】 44 【 C8】
27、45 【 C9】 46 【 C10】 Section B 46 The End of the Book? A)Amazon, by far the largest bookseller in the country, reported on May 19 that it is now selling more books in its electronic Kindle format than in the old paper-and-ink format. That is remarkable, considering that the Kindle has only been around
28、 for four years. E-books now account for 14 percent of all book sales in this country and are increasing far faster than overall book sales. E-book sales are up 146 percent over last year, while hardback sales increased 6 percent and paperbacks decreased 8 percent. B)Does this spell the doom of the
29、physical book? Certainly not immediately, and perhaps not at all. What it does mean is that the book business will go through a transformation in the next decade or so more profound than any it has seen since Gutenberg introduced printing from moveable type in the 1450s. C)Physical books will surely
30、 become much rarer in the marketplace. Mass market paperbacks, which have been declining for years anyway, will probably disappear, as will hardbacks for mysteries, thrillers, “romance fiction,“ etc. Such books, which only rarely end up in permanent collections, either private or public, will probab
31、ly only be available as e-books within a few years. Hardback and trade paperbacks for “serious“ nonfiction and fiction will surely last longer. Perhaps it will become the mark of an author to reckon with that he or she is still published in hard copy. D)As for childrens books, who knows? Childrens b
32、ooks are like dog food in that the purchasers are not the consumers, so the market(and the marketing)is inherently strange. E)For clues to the books future, lets look at some examples of technological change and see what happened to the old technology. F)One technology replaces another only because
33、the new technology is better, cheaper, or both. The greater the difference, the sooner and more thoroughly the new technology replaces the old. Printing with moveable type on paper dramatically reduced the cost of producing a book compared with the old-fashioned ones handwritten on vellum, which com
34、es from sheepskin. A Bible to be sure, a long book required vellum made from 300 sheepskins and countless man-hours of labor. Before printing arrived, a Bible cost more than a middle-class house. There were perhaps 50,000 books in all of Europe in 1450. By 1500 there were 10 million. G)But while pri
35、nting quickly caused the handwritten book to die out, handwriting lingered on(继续存在 )well into the 16th century. Very special books are still occasionally produced on vellum, but they are one-of-a-kind show pieces. H)Sometimes a new technology doesnt drive the old one out, but only parts of it while
36、forcing the rest to evolve. The movies were widely predicted to drive live theater out of the marketplace, but they didnt, because theater turned out to have qualities movies could not reproduce. Equally, TV was supposed to replace movies but, again, did not. I)Movies did, however, fatally impact so
37、me parts of live theater. And while TV didnt kill movies, it did kill second-rate pictures, shorts, and cartoons. J)Nor did TV kill radio. Comedy and drama shows(“Jack Benny,“ “Amos and Andy,“ “The Shadow“)all migrated to television. But because you cant drive a car and watch television at the same
38、time, rush hour became radios prime time, while music, talk, and news radio greatly enlarged their audiences. Radio is today a very different business than in the late 1940s and a much larger one. K)Sometimes old technology lingers for centuries because of its symbolic power. Mounted cavalry(骑兵 )rep
39、laced the chariot(二轮战车 )on the battlefield around 1000 BC. But chariots maintained their place in parades and triumphs right up until the end of the Roman Empire 1,500 years later. The sword hasnt had a military function for a hundred years, but is still part of an officers full-dress uniform, preci
40、sely because a sword always symbolized “ an officer and a gentleman. “ L)Sometimes new technology is a little cranky(不稳定的 )at first. Television repairman was a common occupation in the 1950s, for instance. And so the old technology remains as a backup. Steamships captured the North Atlantic passenge
41、r business from sail in the 1840s because of its much greater speed. But steamships didnt lose their sails until the 1880s, because early marine engines had a nasty habit of breaking down. Until ships became large enough(and engines small enough)to mount two engines side by side, they needed to keep
42、 sails.(The high cost of steam and the lesser need for speed kept the majority of the worlds ocean freight moving by sail until the early years of the 20th century.) M)Then there is the fireplace. Central heating was present in every upper- and middle-class home by the second half of the 19th centur
43、y. But functioning fireplaces remain to this day a powerful selling point in a house or apartment. I suspect the reason is a deep-rooted love of fire. Fire was one of the earliest major technological advances for humankind, providing heat, protection, and cooked food(which is much easier to eat and
44、digest). Human control of fire goes back far enough(over a million years)that evolution could have produced a genetic leaning towards fire as a central aspect of human life. N)Books especially books the average person could afford havent been around long enough to produce evolutionary change in huma
45、ns. But they have a powerful hold on many people nonetheless, a hold extending far beyond their literary content. At their best, they are works of art and there is a tactile(触觉的 )pleasure in books necessarily lost in e-book versions. The ability to quickly thumb through pages is also lost. And a roo
46、m with books in it induces, at least in some, a feeling not dissimilar to that of a fire in the fireplace on a cold winters night. O)For these reasons I think physical books will have a longer existence as a commercial product than some currently predict. Like swords, books have symbolic power. Like
47、 fireplaces, they induce a sense of comfort and warmth. And, perhaps, similar to sails, they make a useful backup for when the lights go out. 47 Authors still published in printed versions will be considered important ones. 48 Some people are still in favor of printed books because of the sense of t
48、ouch they can provide. 49 The radio business has changed greatly and now attracts more listeners. 50 Contrary to many peoples prediction of its death, the film industry survived. 51 Remarkable changes have taken place in the book business. 52 Old technology sometimes continues to exist because of it
49、s reliability. 53 The increase of e-book sales will force the book business to make changes not seen for centuries. 54 A new technology is unlikely to take the place of an old one without a clear advantage. 55 Paperbacks of popular literature are more likely to be replaced by e-books. 56 A house with a fireplace has a stronger appeal to buyers. Section C 56 The question of whether our government should promote science and technology or the liberal
