1、专业英语四级（阅读）模拟试卷 128及答案与解析 一、 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 (1)Allan Metcalf s new book claims, that the word
2、“OK“ is Americas greatest invention. This offers a pair of provocations. How can “OK“ be an invention? On a certain day, a certain guy just dreamed up the expression that has become the most frequently spoken word on the planet? And even if it is an invention, can one little word really be greater t
3、han jazz, baseball, and the telephone? Is it better than The Simpsons? (2)The answer to the first question, implausible as it sounds, is yes. In OK: The Improbable Story of Americas Greatest Word, Metcalf locates the first use of OK in an obscure corner of a Boston newspaper on March 23, 1839. As fo
4、r the alleged greatness of the word, Metcalf s slim volume doesnt entirely persuade you that OK is a more valuable invention than, say, electric light. But the fact that he even raises the question is intriguing. If it does nothing else, Metcalf makes you acutely aware of how universal and vital the
5、 word has become. (3)True story: the worlds most popular word began as a joke. In the late 1830s, Americas newspapers had great enthusiasm for abbreviations also, to judge by Metcalfs account, a sorry sense of humor. He devotes a chapter to trying to explain why readers of the Boston Morning Post mi
6、ght have been amused to see “o. k.“ used as a jokey abbreviation for “oll korrect,“ an intentional misspelling of “all correct.“ Apparently you had to be there. But the word soon got an enormous boost from Andrew Jackson or his enemies, anyway. They circulated the rumor that the man of the people wa
7、s barely literate and approved papers with the initials “O.K.“ for “oll korrect.“ It was a joke, Metcalf concludes, “but without it thered be no OK.“ (4)The word didnt remain a joke for long. Telegraph operators began using it as a way to say “all clear.“ It became ubiquitous, turning up in all corn
8、ers of the world, and beyond. Metcalf points out that OK was technically the first word spoken on the surface of the moon. (5)When you pause to consider what a weird and wonderful little word OK is, the most remarkable thing isnt that its so great or that it was invented but that its American. To fo
9、reigners in the 20th century, Metcalf writes, the word embodied “American simplicity, pragmatism, and optimism.“ To us today, the word sums up “a whole two-letter American philosophy of tolerance, even admiration for difference.“ 1 How was “OK“ created? （ A） It was created to shorten a word. （ B） It
10、 was created by mistake. （ C） It was created to play a joke on a reporter. （ D） It was created to convey a sense of humor. 2 Which of the following is true about Andrew Jackson? （ A） He was the inventor of “OK“. （ B） He was poor in writing and reading. （ C） He was a household name in America. （ D） H
11、e was the editor of the Boston Morning Post. 2 (1)Their defenders say they are motivated, versatile workers who are just what companies need in these difficult times. To others, however, the members of “Generation Y“ those born in the 1980s and 1990s, otherwise known as the Net Generation are spoile
12、d, narcissistic(自恋的 )idlers who cannot spell and waste too much time on instant messaging and Facebook. Ah, reply the Net Geners, but all that messing around online proves that we are computer-literate multi-taskers who are skillful users of online collaborative tools, and natural team players. And,
13、 while you are on the subject of me, I need a months vacation to reconsider my personal goals. (2)This culture clash has been going on in many organizations and has lately seeped into management books. The Net Geners have grown up with computers; they are brimming with self-confidence; and they have
14、 been encouraged to challenge received wisdom, to find their own solutions to problems and to treat work as a route to personal fulfillment rather than merely a way of putting food on the table. Not all of this makes them easy to manage. Bosses complain that after a childhood of being spoiled and pr
15、aised, Net Geners demand far more frequent feedback and an over-precise set of objectives on the path to promotion. In a new report from PricewaterhouseCoopers, a consultancy, 61% of chief executives say they have trouble recruiting and integrating younger employees. (3)For those hard-to-please olde
16、r managers, the current recession is the joyful equivalent of hiding an alarm clock in a sleeping teenagers bedroom. Once again, the touchy-feely management fashions that always spring up in years of plenty are being ditched in favor of more brutal command-and-control methods. Having grown up in goo
17、d times, Net Geners have labored under the illusion that the world owed them a living. But hopping between jobs to find one that meets your inner spiritual needs is not so easy when there are no jobs to hop to. And as for that vacation: heres a permanent one, sunshine. (4)In fact, compromise will be
18、 necessary on both sides. Net Geners will certainly have to lower some of their expectations and take the world as it is, not as they would like it to be. But their older bosses should also be prepared to make concessions. The economy will eventually recover, and demographic trends in most rich coun
19、tries will make clever young workers even more valuable. Besides, many of the things that keep Net Geners happy are worth doing anyway. But for the moment at least, the Facebookers are under heavy criticism. 3 Net Geners are not easy to manage in that _. （ A） theyve attached too much importance to t
20、he personal fulfillment （ B） theyve been courageous enough to challenge their bosses （ C） theyve had excessive confidence in themselves （ D） theyve required excessive responses and goals 4 What is the authors attitude towards Net Geners? （ A） Supportive, （ B） Objective, （ C） Biased. （ D） Pessimistic
21、. 4 (1)Ever try and get a two-year-old to pick up trash? This was our goal this past weekend on a glorious, clear Saturday, the morning of the two-decades old International Coastal Cleanup. Once a year, volunteers from all over the country gather on beaches, baysides, and riverbanks to clean them up
22、. The sponsor of the effort, the Ocean Conservancy, says that to date six million volunteers from around the world have taken over 100 million pounds of trash out of American waters. That sounded a little far-fetched until my little family spent a morning on the Potomac River. (2)We live a few block
23、s from the storied river. To many, the Potomac, the water that frames the nations capital, is a witness and carrier of history. The river is a community builder; along the Mount Vernon trail that runs for miles along the Potomac in Virginia, we meet more neighbors during the week than we would if we
24、 went door-to-door. (3)We want to see the river sparkling clean. We also feel guilty for not performing any kind of community service for the past two years as the kids dominated nearly every waking moment. So we walked over to Daingerfield Island, home of boat docks, soccer fields, and a great view
25、 of planes taking off at Reagan National Airport. The National Park Service ranger handed us three large trash bags, three sets of gloves, a long-handled “gripper“ for snatching pieces of trash out of reach, and directed us to a portion of the trail where hed seen “tons of garbage.“ I still was susp
26、icious. (4)But in a little over an hour, my husband and I were overwhelmed with plastic cola bottles, rusted tin cans, tennis balls, water bottles, and one size 13 Air Jordan shoe, lightly worn. In about a 30-yard stretch we had our bags filled to the brim, too heavy to transport back to the ranger
27、while managing a two-year-old who kept screaming TRASH! and running in its direction. (5)We discovered this river garbage can easily conceal itself in vegetation and in the mud of the banks. It can also hide in plain sight if those who put it there just dont care. Simply put, this trash or marine de
28、bris, if you want to be proper kills. It destroys not only fish, other marine life and seabirds, but also their homes. (6)Thoughtlessly discarded on land or from boats in coastal communities, trash finds its way to the water and bigger bodies of water, in our case, the Chesapeake and eventually the
29、Atlantic and look! A garbage dump at sea. Much of this trash has real “staying power,“ as the Ocean Conservancy calls it in their findings from a marine monitoring program, and resists decaying. Fish mistake trash for food. Discarded fishing lines or nets entrap sea life, cutting fins(鱼鳍 )or strangl
30、ing them. (7)My baby, Luke, spent the first hour mastering the gripper, his little fingers manipulating the squeeze-handle so the gripper would grip the object of his focus. All told, he “gripped“ two plastic bottles and successfully managed to place them INSIDE the bag. The next day we returned to
31、the trail for a walk. When we approached our cleanup area, Lukes eye widened as he exclaimed, “Pick up trash! (8)Thats right, buddy. Good advice. 5 The author found it a little “far-fetched“ that _. （ A） the International Coastal Cleanup had been so popular （ B） so many volunteers had come to clean
32、waters up （ C） so much rubbish had been taken out of American waters （ D） the Ocean Conservancy had spread such wide influence 6 The author decided to take part in cleaning up the river because _. （ A） she wanted to do some community service （ B） she knew the river was filled with rubbish （ C） she h
33、ad always been occupied with the kids （ D） she had a deep affection for the river 7 The author brought her son Luke to the cleanup area because he was _. （ A） too little to be left at home alone （ B） smart enough to help pick up trash （ C） supposed to learn from this activity （ D） supposed to learn
34、to pick up trash 7 (1)David Fajgenbaum remembers the exact date: July 17, 2003. It was a warm evening in Washington, D.C., and the 18-year-old freshman had just finished his first football practice at Georgetown University. “It was awesome,“ the former quarter back recalls. He called his parents to
35、let them know how well things were going. Davids dad, an orthopedic(整形手术的 )surgeon, was oddly subdued. Finally, in a soft voice, he said, “Son, your mom has brain cancer.“ (2)“I went from being happier than Id ever been to total shock,“ says David. Rushing home, he announced he was dropping out of c
36、ollege to support his mother through her illness. But Anna Marie Fajgenbaum, just 52 years old and diagnosed with stage 4 brain cancer, was insistent that her son return to Georgetown. (3)David threw himself into his studies and grew increasingly isolated. “I felt I was the only person on campus wit
37、h a sick parent. When everyones sitting around laughing and talking, you dont bring up your mothers latest MRI(磁共振 )or say youve been crying.“ (4)One October evening when David was home visiting, Anna Marie woke up weeping. She was worried about David and his two sisters. “Mom, Im going to be okay,“
38、 David assured her. Then, out of the blue, he said,“ And Im going to help other kids cope with loss.“ A smile spread across his mothers face. He decided on a support group called Ailing Mothers and Fathers based on his moms initials, AMF. (5)When Anna Marie died later that month, David started heari
39、ng from friends whod never even known his mom was sick. Some had gone through the same experience. “The mother of one of my best friends had also died of a brain tumor,“ says David. “How did we not know that? Because we didnt talk about it.“ (6)He invited five students whod lost relatives or friends
40、 to his D.C. apartment to talk. They decided to meet every other week, to share what they were going through and how they were coping. But they did more than talk. They also raised money: They participated in the Iron man 10K for cancer research, walked to battle ALS, and ran to defeat lung cancer.
41、(7)David learned that nearly half of college students had lost a loved one within the previous two years. And every one of them has a story to tell. Julie George, who heads the Georgetown chapter, found out her dad had ALS during her freshman year. (8)T went to my first AMF meeting and felt like a h
42、uge weight had been lifted. It gave me a place to talk about the concerns for my family, the things that dont come up over pizza in the common room or by a keg in someones backyard.“ (9)David graduated from Georgetown last year and is studying public health at the University of Oxford. Now 23, he pl
43、ans to become an oncologist(肿瘤学家 )and will attend medical school at the University of Pennsylvania in the fall. (10)The National Students of Ailing Mothers and Fathers Support Network has 2,000 participants on 23 campuses. “This organization,“ says David, “is about one thing: being there for one ano
44、ther. And every time I see those initials AMF I see my mom, and I know I am honoring her by helping others. She would have liked that.“ 8 According to the first paragraph, David Fajgenbaum called home because _. （ A） his first football practice was marvelous （ B） his first football practice was drea
45、dful （ C） he got the news of her mothers brain cancer （ D） he was worried about his mothers health 9 Which of the following statements about Julie George can NOT be inferred from the passage? （ A） She is in charge of the Georgetown branch of AMF. （ B） She is one of the first members of AMF. （ C） She
46、 was convinced of AMFs helpfulness. （ D） She was much aggrieved by her fathers disease. 10 When talking with others “by a keg in someones backyard,“ _ topics are usually avoided. （ A） confidential （ B） enjoyable （ C） unpleasant （ D） insignificant 二、 SECTION B In this section there are five short ans
47、wer questions based on the passages in Section A. Answer the questions with No more than TEN words in the space provided. 10 PASSAGE ONE 11 What does the word “provocations“ in Paragraph 1 mean in the context? 12 Which paragraph is about the origin of “OK“? 13 PASSAGE TWO 13 What does the word “touc
48、hy-feely“ in Paragraph 3 most probably mean? 14 PASSAGE THREE 14 What does the name “The Chesapeake“ most probably refer to? 15 PASSAGE FOUR 15 What kind of people does David intend to support by establishing AMF? 专业英语四级（阅读）模拟试卷 128答案与解析 一、 SECTION A In this section there are several passages follow
49、ed 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. 【知识模块】 阅读 1 【正确答案】 D 【试题解析】 第 3段第 1句中的 joke和第 3句中的 jokey，都表明 OK是源于一个玩笑，且该段第 2句指出这体现了 a sorry sense of humor，故 D与文意最相符。 OK这个词的出现包含了 “缩写 ”和 “幽默 ”这两个要素，主要是后者，且 OK也并不是一个单词的缩写，故 A不正确；根据第 3段第 3句末的 intentional misspelling可排除 B； C中的 a joke on a reporter缺乏原文依据。 【知识模块】 阅读 2 【正确 答案】 C 【试题解析】 Andrew Jackson的名字出现在第 3段倒数第 3句，而下一句则将其称为 the m
