1、专业英语四级（阅读）模拟试卷 101及答案与解析 SECTION A In this section there are several passages followed by ten multiple-choice questions. For each question, there are four suggested answers marked A, B, C and D. Choose the one that you think is the best answer. 0 From a child I was fond of reading, and all the littl
2、e money that came into my hands was ever laid out in books. Pleased with the Pilgrims Progress, my first collection was of John Bunyans works, in separate little volumes. I afterwards sold them to enable me to buy R. Burtons Historical Collection; they were small chapmens books and cheap, 40 or 50 i
3、n all. My fathers little library consisted chiefly of books in polemic divinity, most of which I read, and have since often regretted that, at a time when I had such a thirst for knowledge, more proper books had not fallen in my way, since it was now resolved I should not be a clergyman. Plutarchs L
4、ives there was, in which I read abundantly, and I still think that time spent to great advantage. There was also a book of Defoes, called An Essay on Projects, and another of Dr. Mathers called Essays to Do Good which perhaps gave me a turn of thinking that had an influence on some of the principal
5、future events of my life. This bookish inclination at length determined my father to make me a printer, though he had already one son (James) of that profession. In 1717 my brother James returned from England with a press and letters to set up his business in Boston. I liked it much better than that
6、 of my father, but still have a hankering for the sea. To prevent the apprehended effect of such an inclination, my father was impatient to have me bound to my brother. I stood out some time but at last was persuaded, and signed the indentures, when I was yet but 12 years old. I was to serve as an a
7、pprentice till I was 21 years of age, only I was to be allowed journeymans wages during the last year. In a little time I made great proficiency in the business, and became a useful hand to my brother. I now had access to better books. An acquaintance with the apprentice of booksellers, enabled me s
8、ometimes to borrow a small one, which I was careful to return soon and clean. Often I sat up in my room reading the greatest part of the night, when the book was borrowed in the evening and to be returned early in the morning, lest it should be missed or wanted. And after some time an ingenious trad
9、esman Mr. Matthew Adams who had a pretty collection of books, and who frequented our printing house took notice of me, invited me to his library, and very kindly lent me such books as I choose to read. 1 The main purpose of Paragraph One is to show （ A） reading had a great impact on the authors life
10、. （ B） the author loved reading very much. （ C） reading made the author happy. （ D） the author had more chances to read. 2 Which of the following does NOT contribute to the authors change of thought? （ A） Pilgrims Progress. （ B） Plutarchs Lives. （ C） An Essay on Projects. （ D） Essays to Do Good. 3 T
11、he author was forced to work in his brothers company because （ A） his father was impatient to his activities. （ B） he made his father very disappointed. （ C） his father was afraid of his impulsive inclination. （ D） his brothers company was better than his fathers. 4 In Paragraph Two, “stood out“ mea
12、ns （ A） confessed. （ B） agreed. （ C） refused. （ D） thought out. 5 Tradesman Mr. Matthew Adams helped the author by （ A） lending him his collection of books. （ B） often going to his printing house. （ C） taking notice of his reading talent. （ D） offering him a job to earn a living. 5 It seems that hap
13、piness is something to do with simplicity, and that it is the ability to extract pleasure from the simplest things such as a peach stone, for instance. It is obvious that it is nothing to do with success. For Sir Henry Stewart was certainly successful. It is twenty years ago since he came down to ou
14、r village from London, and bought a couple of old cottages, which he had knocked into one. He used his house as a weekend refuge. He was a barrister. And the village followed his brilliant career with something almost amounting to paternal pride. I remember some ten years ago when he was made a King
15、s Counsel, Amos and I, seeing him get off the London train, went to congratulate him. We grinned with pleasure; he merely looked as miserable as though hed received a penal sentence. It was the same when he was knighted; he never smiled a bit, he didnt even bother to celebrate with a round of drinks
16、 at the “Blue Fox“. He took his success as a child does his medicine. And not one of his achievements brought even a ghost of a smile to his tired eyes. I asked him one day, soon after hed retired to potter about his garden, what it was like to achieve all ones ambitions. He looked down at his roses
17、 and went on watering them. Then he said, “The only value in achieving ones ambitions is that you then realize that they are not worth achieving.“ Quickly he moved the conversation on to a more practical level, and within a moment we were back to a safe discussion on the weather. That was two years
18、ago. I recall this incident, for yesterday, I was passing his house, and had drawn up my cart just outside his garden wall. I had pulled in from the road for no other reason than to let a bus pass me. As I set there filling my pipe, I suddenly heard a shout of sheer joy come from the other side of t
19、he wall. I peered over. There stood Sir Henry doing nothing less than a tribal war dance, of sheer unashamed ecstasy. Even when he observed my bewildered face staring over the wall he did not seem put out or embarrassed, but shouted for me to climb over. “Come and see, Jan. Look! I have done it at l
20、ast! I have done it at last! “ There he was, holding a small box of earth in his hand. I observed three tiny shoots out of it. “And there were only three! “ he said, his eyes laughing to heaven. “Three what?“ I asked. “Peach stones“, he replied. “Ive always wanted to make peach stones grow, even sin
21、ce I was a child, when I used to take them home after a party, or as a man after a banquet. And I used to plant them, and then forgot where I planted them. But now at last I have done it, and, whats more, I had only three stones, and there you are, one, two, three shoots,“ he counted. And Sir Henry
22、ran off, calling for his wife to come and see his achievement his achievement of simplicity. 6 Sir Henry Stewart came to our village most probably because （ A） he wanted to be praised by the villagers. （ B） he thought of simplicity as success. （ C） he was successful as a barrister. （ D） he needed a
23、place for relaxation. 7 How did Sir Henry Stewart react to his achievements? （ A） He dismissed them with a smile. （ B） He didnt bother to smile at all. （ C） He was too tired to smile. （ D） He only smiled reluctantly. 8 What did Sir Henry Stewart think about the value of achieving ones ambitions? （ A
24、） It was one of the greatest things in the world. （ B） It made one know achievements were worthless. （ C） It helped one change his attitude towards life. （ D） It brought a great fulfillment to ones life. 9 To Sir Henry Stewart, doing gardening work was （ A） his long-cherished ambition. （ B） an enjoy
25、able life style. （ C） a turning point in his life. （ D） a tedious work for his age. 10 By saying “there were only three“, Sir Henry （ A） was happy that he found the peach stones. （ B） was happy that they actually grew. （ C） felt regretful that only three stones grew. （ D） felt regretful that he didn
26、t have more stones. 10 Teachers in the United States earn less relative to national income than their counterparts in many industrialized countries, yet they spend far more hours in front of the classroom, according to a major new international study. The salary differentials are part of a pattern o
27、f relatively low public investment in education in the United States compared with other member nations of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), a group in Paris that compiled the report. Total government spending on educational institutions in the United States slipped t
28、o 4.8 percent of gross domestic production in 1998, falling under the international average 5 percent-for the first time. “The whole economy has grown faster than the education systems,“ Andreas Schleicher, one of the reports authors explained. “The economy has done very well, but teachers have not
29、fully benefited.“ The report, due out today, is the sixth on education published since 1991 by the organization of 30 nations, founded in 1960, and now covering much of Europe, North America, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand. In addition to the teacher pay gap, the report shows the othe
30、r countries have begun to catch up with the United States in higher education: college enrollment has grown by 20 percent since 1995 across the group, with one in four young people now earning degrees. For the first time, the United States college graduation rate, now at 33 percent, is not the world
31、 highest. Finland, the Netherlands, New Zealand and Britain have surpassed it. The United States is also producing fewer mathematics and science graduates than most of the other member states. And, the report says, a college degree produces a greater boost in income here while the lack of a high sch
32、ool diploma imposes a bigger income penalty. “The number of graduates is increasing, but that stimulates even more of a demandthere is no end in sight,“ Mr. Schleicher said, “The demand for skill, clearly, is growing faster than the supply that is coming from schools and colleges.“ The report lists
33、the salary for a high school teacher in the United States with 15 years experiences as $36,219, above the international average of $31,887 but behind seven other countries and less than 60 percent of Switzerlands $62,052. Because teachers in the United States have a heavier classroom load, teaching
34、almost a third more hours than their counterparts abroad, their salary per hour of actual teaching, $35, is less than the international average of $41 (Denmark, Spain and Germany pay more than $50 per teaching hour, South Korea $77). 11 Compared with teachers in many rich countries, American teacher
35、s might feel （ A） fairly satisfied. （ B） very fortunate. （ C） rather depressed. （ D） quite exceptional. 12 “The whole economy has grown faster than the education systems“ in Paragraph 3 indicates that （ A） teachers in the U.S. have not got enough profits from the economy. （ B） U.S. government has be
36、en spending less money on education systems. （ C） the education systems develop at a lower speed than the economy. （ D） the development of education systems has encountered severe problems. 13 Which of the following statements is INCORRECT according to the passage? （ A） People earning degrees in the
37、 OECD member nations are increasing quickly. （ B） College graduation rate in the United Kingdom has been increased to 33%. （ C） The OECD has published six education reports ever since the year of 1991. （ D） The salaries of the U.S. teachers is less than half of those in South Korea. 14 Which of the
38、following figures about U.S. is above the international average? （ A） High school teachers income per hour. （ B） Government investment on education. （ C） High school teachers annual income. （ D） High school graduation rate. 15 U.S. college graduates differ from those in the OECD member nations in te
39、rms of （ A） change in life-style. （ B） chance in promotion. （ C） pride in identity. （ D） increase in salary. 16 An appropriate title for the passage might be （ A） Educational Problems Caused by Economy. （ B） Education Study Finds U.S. Falling Behind. （ C） Higher Dropout Rates in the U.S. today. （ D）
40、 A Distinct Contrast Between U.S. and Abroad. 16 Our knowledge of the oceans hundreds of years ago was confined to the two-dimensional shape of the sea surface and the hazards of navigation presented by the irregularities in depth of the shallow water close to the land. The open sea was deep and mys
41、terious, and anyone who gave more than a passing thought to the bottom confines of the oceans probably assumed that the sea bed was flat. Sir James Clark Ross had obtained a sounding of over 2,400 fathoms in 1839, but it was not until 1869, when H.M.S. Porcupine was put at the disposal of the Royal
42、Society for several cruises, that a series of deep soundings was obtained in the Atlantic and the first samples were collected by dredging (挖掘 ) the bottom. Shortly after this the famous H.M.S. Challenger expedition established the study of the sea-floor as a subject worthy of the most qualified phy
43、sicists and geologists. A burst of activity associated with the laying of submarine cables soon confirmed the Challengers observation that many parts, of the ocean were two to three miles deep, and the existence of underwater features of considerable magnitude. Today, enough soundings are available
44、to enable a relief map of the Atlantic to be drawn and we know something of the great variety of the sea beds topography (地形 ). Since the sea covers the greater part of the earths surface, it is quite reasonable to regard the sea floor as the basic form of the crust of the earth, with, superimposed
45、upon, it the continents, together with the islands and other features of the oceans. The continents form rugged tablelands which stand nearly three miles above the floor of the open ocean. From the shore line, out a distance which may be anywhere from a few miles to a few hundred miles, runs the gen
46、tle slope of the continental shelf, geologically part of the continents. The real dividing line between continents and oceans occurs at the foot of a steeper slope. This continental slope usually starts at a place somewhere near the 100-fathom mark and in the course of a few hundred miles reaches th
47、e true ocean floor at 2,500-3,500 fathoms. The slope averages about 1 in 30, but contains steep, probably vertical, cliffs, and gentle sediment-covered terraces, and near its lower reaches there is a long tailing-off which is almost certainly the result of material transported out to deep water afte
48、r being eroded from the continental masses. 17 Before the 19th century probably no one thought （ A） the sea was two-dimensional. （ B） the sea was dangerous （ C） the sea floor must be flat. （ D） the sea floor was irregular. 18 The H.M.S. Challenger expedition （ A） was devoted to dredging the ocean. （
49、 B） was dedicated to laying submarine cables. （ C） gave the sea-floor study disciplinary independence. （ D） obtained a series of deep soundings in the Atlantic. 19 The continental slope （ A） gradually stretches out to the sea bed. （ B） starts immediately at the seashore. （ C） ends at the place near the 100-fathom mark. （ D） contains steep and vertical cliffs. 20 According to the passage, which of the following statements is INCORRECT? （ A） The first sample was collected by Sir James Clark Ross. （ B） Many parts of the sea-floor differ greatl
