1、2016年 6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 a letter to express your thanks to your parents or any other family member upon making a memorable achievement. You should write at least 120 words but no more than 180 words. Section A （ A） The Intern
2、ational Labour Organizations key objective. （ B） The basic social protection for the most vulnerable. （ C） Rising unemployment worldwide. （ D） Global economic recovery. （ A） Many countries have not taken measures to create enough jobs. （ B） Few countries know how to address the current economic cris
3、is. （ C） Few countries have realised the seriousness of the current crisis. （ D） Many countries need support to improve their peoples livelihood. （ A） Serve standardised food nationwide. （ B） Put calorie information on the menu. （ C） Increase protein content in the food. （ D） Offer convenient food t
4、o customers. （ A） They will be fined. （ B） They will be closed. （ C） They will get a warning. （ D） They will lose customers. （ A） Inability to implement their business plans. （ B） Inability to keep turning out novel products. （ C） Lack of a successful business model of their own. （ D） Failure to int
5、egrate innovation into their business. （ A） It is the secret to business success. （ B） It is the creation of something new. （ C） It is a magic tool to bring big rewards. （ D） It is an essential part of business culture. （ A） Its hardworking employees. （ B） Its flexible promotion strategy. （ C） Its i
6、nnovation culture. （ D） Its willingness to make investments. Section B （ A） Hes got addicted to technology. （ B） He is not very good at socializing. （ C） He is crazy about text-messaging. （ D） He does not talk long on the phone. （ A） Talk big. （ B） Talk at length. （ C） Gossip a lot. （ D） Forget hers
7、elf. （ A） He thought it was cool. （ B） He needed the practice. （ C） He wanted to stay connected with them. （ D） He had an urgent message to send. （ A） It poses a challenge to seniors. （ B） It saves both time and money. （ C） It is childish and unprofessional. （ D） It is cool and convenient. （ A） He w
8、ants to change his job assignment. （ B） He is unhappy with his department manager. （ C） He thinks he deserves extra pay for overtime. （ D） He is often singled out for criticism by his boss. （ A） His workload was much too heavy. （ B） His immediate boss did not trust him. （ C） His colleagues often ref
9、used to cooperate. （ D） His salary was too low for his responsibility. （ A） He never knows how to refuse. （ B） He is always ready to help others. （ C） His boss has a lot of trust in him. （ D） His boss has no sense of fairness. （ A） Put all his complaints in writing. （ B） Wait and see what happens ne
10、xt. （ C） Learn to say no when necessary. （ D） Talk to his boss in person first. Section C （ A） The importance of sleep to a healthy life. （ B） Reasons for Americans decline in sleep. （ C） Some tips to improve the quality of sleep. （ D） Diseases associated with lack of sleep. （ A） They are more healt
11、h-conscious. （ B） They are changing their living habits. （ C） They get less and less sleep. （ D） They know the dangers of lack of sleep. （ A） Their weight will go down. （ B） Their mind function will deteriorate. （ C） Their work efficiency will decrease. （ D） Their blood pressure will rise. （ A） How
12、much you can afford to pay. （ B） What course you are going to choose. （ C） Which university you are going to apply to. （ D） When you are going to submit your application. （ A） The list of courses studied. （ B） The full record of scores. （ C） The references from teachers. （ D） The personal statement.
13、 （ A） Specify what they would like to do after graduation. （ B） Describe in detail how much they would enjoy studying. （ C） Indicate they have reflected and thought about the subject. （ D） Emphasize that they admire the professors in the university. （ A） It was equipped with rubber tyres. （ B） It wa
14、s built in the late 19th century. （ C） It was purchased by the Royal family. （ D） It was designed by an English engineer. （ A） They consumed lots of petrol. （ B） They took two passengers only. （ C） They were difficult to drive. （ D） They often broke down. （ A） They were produced on the assembly line
15、. （ B） They were built with less costly materials. （ C） They were modeled after British cars. （ D） They were made for ordinary use. （ A） It made news all over the world. （ B） It was built for the Royal family. （ C） It marked a new era in motor travel. （ D） It attracted large numbers of motorists. Se
16、ction A 26 Contrary to popular belief, older people generally do not want to live with their children. Moreover, most adult children【 C1】 _every bit as much care and support to their aging parents as was the case in the “good old days“ , and most older people do not feel【 C2】 _. About 80% of people
17、65 years and older have living children, and about 90% of them have【 C3】 _contact with their children. About 75% of elderly parents who dont go to nursing homes live within 30 minutes of at least one of their children. However,【 C4】 _having contact with children does not guarantee happiness in old a
18、ge. In fact, some research has found that people who are most involved with their families have the lowest spirits. This research may be【 C5】 _, however, as ill health often makes older people more【 C6】 _and thereby increases contact with family members. So it is more likely that poor health, not ju
19、st family involvement,【 C7】 _spirits. Increasingly, researchers have begun to look at the quality of relationships, rather than at the frequency of contact, between the elderly and their children. If parents and children share interests and values and agree on childrearing practices and religious【 C
20、8】_, they are likely to enjoy each others company. Disagreements on such matters can【 C9】 _cause problems. If parents are angered by their daughters divorce, dislike her new husband, and disapprove of how she is raising their grandchildren,【 C10】 _are that they are not going to enjoy her visits. A)a
21、bandoned I)frequent B)advanced J)fulfillment C)biased K)grant D)chances L)merely E)commitment M)provide F)dampens N)understandably G)dependent O)unrealistically H)distant 27 【 C1】 28 【 C2】 29 【 C3】 30 【 C4】 31 【 C5】 32 【 C6】 33 【 C7】 34 【 C8】 35 【 C9】 36 【 C10】 Section B 36 Could Food Shortages Brin
22、g Down Civilization? A)For many years I have studied global agricultural, population, environmental and economic trends and their interactions. The combined effects of those trends and the political tensions they generate point to the breakdown of governments and societies. Yet I, too, have resisted
23、 the idea that food shortages could bring down not only individual governments but also our global civilization. B)I can no longer ignore that risk. Our continuing failure to deal with the environmental declines that are undermining the world food economy forces me to conclude that such a collapse i
24、s possible. C)As demand for food rises faster than supplies are growing, the resulting food-price inflation puts severe stress on the governments of many countries. Unable to buy grain or grow their own, hungry people take to the streets. Indeed, even before the steep climb in grain prices in 2008,
25、the number of failing states was expanding. If the food situation continues to worsen, entire nations will break down at an ever increasing rate. In the 20th century the main threat to international security was superpower conflict: today it is failing states. D)States fail when national governments
26、 can no longer provide personal security, food security and basic social services such as education and health care. When governments lose their control on power, law and order begin to disintegrate. After a point, countries can become so dangerous that food relief workers are no longer safe and the
27、ir programs are halted. Failing states are of international concern because they are a source of terrorists, drugs, weapons and refugees(难民 ), threatening political stability everywhere. E)The surge in world grain prices in 2007 and 2008 and the threat they pose to food security has a different, mor
28、e troubling quality than the increases of the past. During the second half of the 20th century, grain prices rose dramatically several times. In 1972, for instance, the Soviets, recognizing their poor harvest early, quietly cornered the world wheat market. As a result, wheat prices elsewhere more th
29、an doubled, pulling rice and corn prices up with them. But this and other price shocks were event-driven drought in the Soviet Union, crop-shrinking heat in the U. S. Corn Belt. And the rises were short-lived: prices typically returned to normal with the next harvest. F)In contrast, the recent surge
30、 in world grain prices is trend-driven, making it unlikely to reverse without a reversal in the trends themselves. On the demand side, those trends include the ongoing addition of more than 70 million people a year, a growing number of people wanting to move up the food chain to consume highly grain
31、-intensive meat products, and the massive diversion(转向 )of U. S. grain to the production of bio-fuel. G)As incomes rise among low-income consumers, the potential for further grain consumption is huge. But that potential pales beside the never-ending demand for crop-based fuels. A fourth of this year
32、s U. S. grain harvest will go to fuel cars. H)What about supply? The three environmental trends the shortage of fresh water, the loss of topsoil and the rising temperatures are making it increasingly hard to expand the worlds grain supply fast enough to keep up with demand. Of all those trends, howe
33、ver, the spread of water shortages poses the most immediate threat. The biggest challenge here is irrigation, which consumes 70% of the worlds fresh water. Millions of irrigation wells in many countries are now pumping water out of underground sources faster than rainfall can refill them. The result
34、 is falling water tables(地下水位 )in countries with half the worlds people, including the three big grain producers China, India and the U. S. I)As water tables have fallen and irrigation wells have gone dry, Chinas wheat crop, the worlds largest, has declined by 8% since it peaked at 123 million tons
35、in 1997. But water shortages are even more worrying in India. Millions of irrigation wells have significantly lowered water tables in almost every state. J)As the worlds food security falls to pieces, individual countries acting in their own self-interest are actually worsening the troubles of many.
36、 The trend began in 2007, when leading wheat-exporting countries such as Russia and Argentina limited or banned their exports, in hopes of increasing local food supplies and thereby bringing down domestic food prices. Vietnam banned its exports for several months for the same reason. Such moves may
37、eliminate the fears of those living in the exporting countries, but they are creating panic in importing countries that must rely on what is then left for export. K)In response to those restrictions, grain-importing countries are trying to nail down long-term trade agreements that would lock up futu
38、re grain supplies. Food-import anxiety is even leading to new efforts by food-importing countries to buy or lease farmland in other countries. In spite of such temporary measures, soaring food prices and spreading hunger in many other countries are beginning to break down the social order. L)Since t
39、he current world food shortage is trend-driven, the environmental trends that cause it must be reversed. We must cut carbon emissions by 80% from their 2006 levels by 2020, stabilize the worlds population at eight billion by 2040, completely remove poverty, and restore forests and soils. There is no
40、thing new about the four objectives. Indeed, we have made substantial progress in some parts of the world on at least one of these the distribution of family-planning services and the associated shift to smaller families. M)For many in the development community, the four objectives were seen as posi
41、tive, promoting development as long as they did not cost too much. Others saw them as politically correct and morally appropriate. Now a third and far more significant motivation presents itself: meeting these goals may be necessary to prevent the collapse of our civilization. Yet the cost we projec
42、t for saving civilization would amount to less than $200 billion a year, 1/6 of current global military spending. In effect, our plan is the new security budget. 37 The more recent steep climb in grain prices partly results from the fact that more and more people want to consume meat products. 38 So
43、cial order is breaking down in many countries because of food shortages. 39 Rather than superpower conflict, countries unable to cope with food shortages now constitute the main threat to world security. 40 Some parts of the world have seen successful implementation of family planning. 41 The author
44、 has come to agree that food shortages could ultimately lead to the collapse of world civilization. 42 Increasing water shortages prove to be the biggest obstacle to boosting the worlds grain production. 43 The cost for saving our civilization would be considerably less than the worlds current milit
45、ary spending. 44 To lower domestic food prices, some countries limited or stopped their grain exports. 45 Environmental problems must be solved to ease the current global food shortage. 46 A quarter of this years American grain harvest will be used to produce bio-fuel for cars. Section C 46 Declinin
46、g mental function is often seen as a problem of old age, but certain aspects of brain function actually begin their decline in young adulthood, a new study suggests. The study, which followed more than 2,000 healthy adults between the ages of 18 and 60, found that certain mental functions including
47、measures of abstract reasoning, mental speed and puzzle-solving started to dull as early as age 27. Dips in memory, meanwhile, generally became apparent around age 37. On the other hand, indicators of a persons accumulated knowledge like performance on tests of vocabulary and general knowledge kept
48、improving with age, according to findings published in the journal Neurobiology of Aging. The results do not mean that young adults need to start worrying about their memories. Most peoples minds function at a high level even in their later years, according to researcher Timothy Salthouse. “These pa
49、tterns suggest that some types of mental flexibility decrease relatively early in adulthood, but that the amount of knowledge one has, and the effectiveness of integrating it with ones abilities, may increase throughout all of adulthood if there are no diseases,“ Salthouse said in a news release. The study included healthy, educated adults who took standard tests of memory, reasoning and perception at the outset and at some point over the next seven years. The tests are designed to detect subtle(细微
