1、专业英语四级（阅读理解）模拟试卷 4及答案与解析 0 Basic to any understanding of Canada in the 20 years after the Second World War is the countrys impressive population growth. For every three Canadians in 1945, there were over five in 1966. In September 1966 Canadas population passed the 20 million mark. Most of this surg
2、ing growth came from natural increase. The depression of the 1930s and the war had held back marriages, and the catching-up process began after 1945. The baby boom continued through the decade of thel950s, producing a population increase of nearly fifteen percent in the five years from 1951 to 1956.
3、 This rate of increase had been exceeded only once before in Canadas history, in the decade before 1911, when the prairies were being settled. Undoubtedly, the good economic conditions of the 1950s supported a growth in the population, but the expansion also derived from a trend toward earlier marri
4、ages and an increase in the average size of families. In 1957 the Canadian birth rate stood at 28 per thousand, one of the highest in the world. After the peak year of 1957, the birth rate in Canada began to decline. It continued falling until in 1966 it stood at the lowest level in 25 years. Partly
5、 this decline reflected the low level of births during the depression and the war, but it was also caused by changes in Canadian society. Young people were staying at school longer; more women were working; young married couples were buying automobiles or houses before starting families; rising livi
6、ng standards were cutting down the size of families. It appeared that Canada was once more falling in step with the trend toward smaller families that had occurred all through the Western world since the time of the Industrial Revolution. Although the growth in Canadas population had slowed down by
7、1966 (the increase in the first half of the 1960s was only nine percent), another large population wave was coming over the horizon. It would be composed of the children who were born during the period of the high birth rate prior to 1957. 1 What does the passage mainly discuss? （ A） Educational cha
8、nges in Canadian society （ B） Canada during the Second World War （ C） Population trends in postwar Canada （ D） Standards of living in Canada 2 According to the passage, when did Canadas baby boom begin? （ A） In the decade after 1911. （ B） After 1945. （ C） During the depression of the 1930s. （ D） In
9、1966. 3 The author suggests that in Canada during the 1950s_. （ A） the urban population decreased rapidly （ B） fewer people married （ C） economic conditions were poor （ D） the birth rate was very high 4 The author mentions all of the following as causes of declines in population growth after 1957 EX
10、CEPT_. （ A） people being better educated （ B） people getting married earlier （ C） better standards of living （ D） couples buying houses 5 It can be inferred from the passage that before the Industrial Revolution_. （ A） families were larger （ B） population statistics were unreliable （ C） the populati
11、on grew steadily （ D） economic conditions were bad 5 (a) Aside from perpetuating itself, the sole purpose of the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters is to “foster, assist and sustain an interest“ in literature, music, and art. This it does by enthusiastically handing out money. Annual
12、 cash awards are given to deserving artists in various categories of creativity: architecture, musical composition, theater, novels, serious poetry, light verse, painting, sculpture. One award subsidizes a promising American writers visit to Rome. There is even an award for a very good work of ficti
13、on that fallen commercially once won by the young John Updike for The Poorhouse Fair and, more recently, by Alice Walker for In Love and Trouble. The awards and prizes total about $750,000 a year, but most of them range in size from $5,000 to $12,500, a welcome sum to many young practitioners whose
14、work may not bring in that much in a year, (b) One of the advantages of the awards is that many go to the struggling artists, rather than to those who are already successful. Members of the Academy and Institute are not eligible for any cash prizes. Another advantage is that, unlike the National End
15、owment for the Arts or similar institutions throughout the world, there is no government money involved. Awards are made by committee. Each of the three departments Literature (120 members), Art(83), Music(47) has a committee dealing with its own field, (c) Committee membership rotates every year, s
16、o that new voices and opinions are constantly heard. The most financially rewarding of all the Academy-Institute awards are the Mildred and Harold Strauss Livings. Harold Strauss, a devoted editor at Alfred A. Knopf, the New York publishing house, and Mildred Strauss, his wife, were wealthy any chil
17、dless, (d) They left the Academy-Institute a unique bequest: for five consecutive years, two distinguished (and financially needy) writers would receive enough money so they could devote themselves entirely to “prose literature“ (no plays, no poetry, and no paying job that might distract). In 1983,
18、the first Strauss Livings of $35,000 a year went to short-story writer Raymond Carver and novelist-essayist Cynthia Ozick. By 1988, the fund had grown enough so that two winners, novelists Diane Johnson and Robert Stone, each got $50,000 a year for five years. 6 What does the passage mainly discuss?
19、 （ A） Award-winning works of literature （ B） An organization that supports the arts （ C） The life of an artist （ D） Individual patrons of the arts 7 Which of the following can be inferred about Alice Walkers book In Love and Trouble? （ A） It sold more copies than The Poorhouse Fair. （ B） It describe
20、d the authors visit to Rome. （ C） It was a commercial success. （ D） It was published after The Poorhouse Fair. 8 What is one of the advantages of the Academy-Institute awards mentioned in the passage? （ A） They are subsidized by the government. （ B） They are often given to unknown artists. （ C） They
21、 are also given to Academy-Institute members. （ D） They influence how the National Endowment for the Arts makes its award decisions. 9 The word “rotates“ in para. 3 is closest in meaning to_. （ A） alternates （ B） participates （ C） decides （ D） meets 10 In which underlined sentence does the author ci
22、te the goal of the Academy-Institute? （ A） Sentence (a) （ B） Sentence (b) （ C） Sentence (c) （ D） Sentence (d) 10 Youre busy filling out the application form for a position you really need; lets assume you once actually completed a couple of years of college work or even that you completed your degre
23、e. Isnt it tempting to lie just a little, to claim on the form that your diploma represents a Harvard degree? Or that you finished an extra couple of years back at State University? More and more people are turning to utter deception like this to land their job or to move ahead in their careers, for
24、 personnel officers, like most Americans, value degrees from famous schools. A job applicant may have a good education anyway, but he or she assumes that chances of being hired are better with a diploma from a well-known university. Registrars at most well-known colleges say they deal with deceitful
25、 claims like these at the rate of about one per week. Personnel officers do check up on degrees listed on application forms, then. If it turns out that an applicants lying, most colleges are reluctant to accuse the applicant directly. One Ivy League school calls them impostors; another refers to the
26、m as special cases. One well-known West Coast school, in perhaps the most delicate phrase of all, says that these claims are made by no such people. To avoid outright (彻底的 ) lies, some job-seekers claim that they attended or were associated with a college or university. After carefully checking, a p
27、ersonnel officer may discover that attending means being dismissed after one semester. It may be that being associated with a college means that the job-seeker visited his younger brother for a football weekend. One school that keeps records of false claims says that the practice dates back at least
28、 to the turn of the century thats when they began keeping records, anyhow. If you dont want to lie or even stretch the truth, there are companies that will sell you a phony diploma. One company, with offices in New York and on the West Coast, will put your name on a diploma from any number of non-ex
29、istent colleges. The price begins at around twenty dollars for a diploma from Smoot State University. The prices increase rapidly for a degree from the University of Purdue. As there is no Smoot State and the real school in Indiana properly called Purdue University, the prices seem rather high for o
30、ne sheet of paper. 11 The main idea of this passage is that_. （ A） employers are checking more closely on applicants now （ B） lying about college degrees has become a widespread problem （ C） college degrees can now be purchased easily （ D） employers are no longer interested in college degrees 12 Acc
31、ording to the passage, special cases refer to cases where_. （ A） students attend a school only part-time （ B） students never attended a school they listed on their application （ C） students purchase false degrees from commercial firms （ D） students attended a famous school 13 We can infer from the p
32、assage that_. （ A） performance is a better judge of ability that a college degree （ B） experience is the best teacher （ C） past work histories influence personnel officers more than degrees do （ D） a degree from a famous school enables an applicant to gain advantage over others in job petition 14 Th
33、is passage implies that_. （ A） buying a false degree is not moral （ B） personnel officers only consider applicants from famous schools （ C） most people lie on applications because they were dismissed from school （ D） society should be greatly responsible for lying on applications 15 As used in the f
34、irst line of the second paragraph, the word “utter“ means_. （ A） address （ B） Thorough （ C） Ultimate （ D） decisive 15 In spite of “endless talk of difference,“ American society is an amazing machine for homogenizing people. There is “the democratizing uniformity of dress and discourse, and the casua
35、lness and absence of deference“ characteristic of popular culture. People are absorbed into “a culture of consumption“ launched by the 19th-century department stores that offered vast arrays of goods in an elegant atmosphere. Instead of intimate shops catering to a knowledgeable elite, these were st
36、ores anyone could enter, regardless of class or background. This turned shopping into a public and democratic act. The mass media, advertising and sports are other forces for homogenization. Immigrants are quickly fitting into this common culture, which may not be altogether elevating but is hardly
37、poisonous. Writing for the National Immigration Forum, Gregory Rodriguez reports that todays immigration is neither at unprecedented levels nor resistant to assimilation. In 1998 immigrants were 9.8 percent of population; in 1900, 13.6 percent. In the 10 years prior to 1990, 3.1 immigrants arrived f
38、or every 1,000 residents; in the 10 years prior to 1890, 9.2 for every 1,000. Now, consider three indices of assimilation language, home ownership and intermarriage. The 1990 Census revealed that “a majority of immigrants from each of the fifteen most common countries of origin spoke English well or
39、 very well after ten years of residence.“ The children of immigrants tend to be bilingual and proficient in English. “By the third generation, the original language is lost in the majority of immigrant families.“ Hence the description of America as a “graveyard“ for language. By 1996 foreign-born im
40、migrants who had arrived before 1970 had a home ownership rate of 75.6 percent, higher than the 69.8 percent rate among native-born Americans. Foreign-born Asians and Hispanics “have higher rates of intermarriage than do US-born whites and blacks.“ By the third generation, one third of Hispanic wome
41、n are married to non-Hispanics, and 41 percent of Asian-American women are married to non-Asians. Rodriguez notes that children in remote villages around the world are fans of superstars like Arnold Schwarzenegger and Garth Brooks, yet “some Americans fear that immigrants living within the United St
42、ates remain somehow immune to the nations assimilative power.“ Are there divisive issues and pockets of seething anger in America? Indeed. It is big enough to have a bit of everything. But particularly when viewed against Americas turbulent past, todays social indices hardly suggest a dark and deter
43、iorating social environment. 16 The word “homogenizing“ (Line 2, Paragraph 1) most probably means_. （ A） identifying （ B） associating （ C） assimilating （ D） monopolizing 17 According to the author, the department stores of the 19th century_. （ A） played a role in the spread of popular culture （ B） b
44、ecame intimate shops for common consumers （ C） satisfied the needs of a knowledgeable elite （ D） owed its emergence to the culture of consumption 18 The text suggests that immigrants now in the US_. （ A） are resistant to homogenization （ B） exert a great influence on American culture （ C） are hardly
45、 a threat to the common culture （ D） constitute the majority of the population 19 Why are Arnold Schwarzenegger and Garth Brooks mentioned in Paragraph 5? （ A） To prove their popularity around the world. （ B） To reveal the publics fear of immigrants. （ C） To give examples of successful immigrants. （
46、 D） To show the powerful influence of American culture. 20 In the authors opinion, the absorption of immigrants into American society is_. （ A） poisonous （ B） successful （ C） fruitless （ D） harmful 20 Everybody loves a fat pay rise. Yet pleasure at your own can vanish if you learn that a colleague h
47、as been given a bigger one. Indeed, if he has a reputation for slacking, you might even be outraged. Such a behavior is regarded as “all too human“, with the underlying assumption that other animals would not be capable of this finely developed sense of grievance. But a study by Sarah Brosnan and Fr
48、ans de Waal of Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, which has just been published in Nature, suggests that it is all too monkey, as well. The researchers studied the behavior of female brown capuchin monkeys. They look cute. They are good-natured, co-operative creatures, and they share their food r
49、eadily. Above all, like their female human counterparts, they tend to pay much closer attention to the value of “goods and services“ than males. Such characteristics make them perfect candidates for Dr. Brosnans and Dr. de Waals study. The researchers spent two years teaching their monkeys to exchange tokens for food. Normally, the monkeys were happy enough to exchange pieces of rock for slices of cucumber. However, when two monkeys were placed in separate but adjoining chambers,
