1、专业英语四级（阅读）模拟试卷 131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)Early humans were very interested in birds and
2、attributed magic and religious powers to them. The connection between birds and death that humans have imagined since prehistoric times still persists strongly in some modern folklore. There are also early hints of humans forming an association between birds and human reproduction. Somewhat later bi
3、rds were regarded as weather changers and forecasters. Birds symbolized the mysterious powers that pervaded the wilderness in which humans hungered, hunted, and dreamed. Thus it is not surprising that many mythological creatures, such as thunderbird, phoenix, and roc, take the form of birds. (2)In t
4、he legends of native North Americans, the thunderbird is a powerful spirit in the form of a bird. Through the work of this bird, it is said, the Earth is watered and vegetation grows. Lightning is believed to flash from its beak, and the beating of its wings is thought to result in the rolling of th
5、under. It is often portrayed with an extra head on its abdomen. The majestic thunderbird is often accompanied by lesser bird spirits, frequently in the form of eagles or falcons. Evidence of similar figures has been found throughout Africa, Asia, and Europe. (3)In ancient Egypt and in classical anti
6、quity, the phoenix was a fabulous bird associated with the worship of the sun. The phoenix was said to be as large as an eagle, with brilliant scarlet and gold plumage and a melodious cry. Only one phoenix existed at any one time, and it was very long-lived; an ancient writer gave it a life span of
7、less than 500 years. As its death approached, the phoenix fashioned a nest of aromatic boughs and spices, set it on fire, and was consumed in the flames. From the burning firewood miraculously sprang a new phoenix, which, after preserving its predecessors ashes in an egg of myrrh, flew with the ashe
8、s to the City of the Sun, in Egypt, where it deposited them in the altar in the temple of the Egyptian god of the sun. The phoenix was understandably thus associated with immortality and the allegory of resurrection and life after death. The phoenix was compared to undying Rome, and it appears on th
9、e coinage of the late Roman Empire as a symbol of the Eternal City. (4)In Arabic legends, the roc, or rukh, was a gigantic bird with two horns on its head and fur humps on its back and was said to be able to carry off elephants and other large beasts for food. 1 Thunderbirds are among the mythologic
10、al birds that are believed to master _. （ A） all the other animals （ B） the climatic changes （ C） humans life and death （ D） the quality of our living 2 What makes the phoenix associated with immortality and resurrection? （ A） That a phoenix is born in its predecessors ashes. （ B） That a phoenix fli
11、es with its predecessors ashes to Egypt. （ C） That a phoenix knows when it dies and how to come back to life. （ D） That a phoenix buries its predecessors ashes in the temple of the sun god. 2 (1)Self-Portrait with Straw Hat(1887), a Van Gogh self-portrait done in Paris, is one of his most intriguing
12、 yet most neglected works. The artists gloomy eyes stare out from his face in half-profile, facing to the left, and the world-weary expression initially appears to support the view of critics such as James Risser, who explains Van Goghs self-portraits as a sustained search for identity. (2)Self-Port
13、rait with Straw Hat(1887)initially appears to comply with Rissers evaluation. In this work, the painter depicted himself wearing a jumper of intense blue before a background done almost entirely in gray but with noticeable blurs of blue most notably in the top right corner. Overall the painting appe
14、ars to be unfinished, a hastily done portrait that the painter abandoned to create more lasting works. (3)In its incomplete state we can precisely read “an unfinished life,“ and in the wild strokes of casual blue in the background and splashed across the artists garments we are instantly confronted
15、with the sense of growing “more and more out of control.“ (4)But is this an accurate evaluation? On the one hand, Risser seems to have legitimate cause for envisioning Van Goghs self-portrait as psychological self-analysis, a painting that “reveals an emotional intensity hiding beneath the surface“.
16、 But is the chaotic surface effect of the blue in this painting actually a form of self-criticism, the artists own intense and emotional despair over his loss of control or is it representative of an underlying aesthetic whose focus is not the painter himself? An intriguing alternative exists: Van G
17、ogh may not have painted the self-portraits as psychoanalytical evaluations of himself, but instead merely as experiments in technique. The artist often stated that he painted himself only because he lacked other models, a view found in the critical work of both Richard Kendall and T.J. Shackelford.
18、 Perhaps, then, Van Gogh was not trying to learn about himself but about art as a whole while painting these portraits and hence we ought to read the self-portraits as a series of statements about art itself. The key to this analysis may be a careful exploration of the special color symbolism Van Go
19、gh attached to the color blue. Unlike our everyday association of blue with melancholy or boredom, the artist imagined blue as a symbol for the infinite or the limitless. Such a view calls into question the idea that self-portraits such as Van Goghs Self-Portrait with Straw Hat(1887)were a psycholog
20、ical profile of the artists melancholy or despair. Instead, when we consider blues special symbolic role as the infinite in Van Goghs Paris self-portraits, we discover a new narrative describing the painters own aesthetic: his insistence that the future of art lay in expressive rather than realistic
21、 methods. 3 What does James Risser think of Van Goghs self-portraits? （ A） Different self-portraits represent Van Goghs different attitude towards life. （ B） Many of his self-portraits have been neglected by critics. （ C） Van Gogh sought for identity through all his self-portraits. （ D） Van Gogh exp
22、ressed his weariness of the world in most of his self-portraits. 4 According to Richard Kendall and T.J. Shackelford, the Self-portrait with a Straw Hat may not have anything to do with _. （ A） Van Goghs painting technique （ B） the symbolism of color （ C） the psychological analysis of the painter （
23、D） the painters aesthetic 5 According to Van Gogh himself, his self-portraits were intended to be _. （ A） narrative （ B） expressive （ C） analytic （ D） artistic 5 (1)Hazel asks how one can stay healthy working the hours Ive been working. Heres one thing that helps: dont do it forever! My work is alwa
24、ys more than forty hours a week, but these periods of never stopping and sleep deprivation dont go on for very long at a time. The last five weeks or so have been particularly busy, and the last two before a major vote especially so. (2)Most organizers, under the pressure, resort to bad coping mecha
25、nisms like overeating, smoking, or drinking too much. Its so easy to think that a quick fix like that will make you feel better, when in the long run it makes you feel worse. I found that keeping low calorie really helped me maintain my mental focus in the last days. Theres something about eating ju
26、st on the lighter side of what I really need that makes me calmer and sharper. (3)Planning is really the key. We made the appetizing muffins over the July 4th weekend, and they were really a health-saver in these last two weeks. Being able to pull a 275 calorie package of perfectly zoned yumminess o
27、ut of the freezer, engineered to have 27% of the RDA(Recommended daily allowance)of everything, made grabbing healthy food in a hurry easy. I had appetizing muffins for breakfasts on most days with such toppings as hot sauce, mustard, and fat free cream cheese. I really enjoy this little bread, so I
28、 felt like I was feasting instead of feeling deprived. Since my husband packs my lunch time salad, filled with an amazing array of greens that pack a nutritional punch along with pumpkin seeds for zinc and fat and eggwhites for protein, I had lunches taken care of. And I was lucky enough to be worki
29、ng in a place that has a convenient subway, so subway salads and low carb wraps were always available. Subway can really be a blessing to the health conscious on the run. (4)The good news is: WE WON! And we won big. 272 votes for us, 128 for the other union, and only 19 for no union at all. It was a
30、 fight up until the end, including threats of violence from the other union. Dont worry, Mommies and Daddies out there. I was very careful never to be alone anywhere, I am being extra cautious. Our leaders inside the hospital were under a ton of pressure as they got attacked by both management and t
31、he other union, but so many of their co-workers were supportive that they held up beautifully. Now they finally have a chance to negotiate a contract that gets them the kind of salaries, benefits and working conditions they deserve. Its about time. (5)Im off to a meeting to plan next steps. the fun
32、never ends! 6 In order to stay healthy while working busily, the author suggests that_. （ A） we should work no more than forty hours a week （ B） we should try to get rid of the working pressure （ C） we should try to avoid sleep deprivation and fast food （ D） we should stop working and make up for sl
33、eep at times 7 “Mommies and Daddies out there“ were worried_. （ A） about the authors personal safety （ B） that the authors union would fail in the election （ C） about the opposition in the hospital （ D） that the author couldnt get through the pressure 7 (1)The level of discrimination has varied enor
34、mously in the history of human societies, from genocide where ethnics are killed off through expulsion and, when these extreme forms of discrimination are not possible, through segregation in a ghetto and a narrow range of jobs. (2)One type of ethnic minority is lower class. Here disproportionate nu
35、mbers of a population are isolated in slum housing tracts and pushed into the lowest-paying occupations such that they are in the poverty classes of a society. African-Americans have suffered this fate in the United States. Another type of ethnic minority created by discrimination is the middleman m
36、inority where members are segregated but, at the same time, allowed to occupy a narrow range of entrepreneurial and professional economic positions which give them some affluence. For example, Jews in feudal and early modern Europe often occupied high positions in banking and finance; and many Asian
37、 immigrants in America today have moved into small business niches. (3)What determines which type of a minority an ethnic population will become? One important condition is the resources money, entrepreneurial know-how, educational credentials that a population can mobilize. When ethnics have some r
38、esources, they can more readily move into intermediary minority positions and live a more middle-class life style. But resources are not the only factor; another is the absolute size of an ethnic population. A small minority with resources can more easily find intermediary niches than a large one, f
39、or the simple reason that there are not enough small-business positions for a large population. A large ethnic population will, therefore, be pushed to lower niches especially if their resources are limited and, as a result, their a-bility to fight off discrimination is low. African-Americans have s
40、uffered this fate: They are too large a group to fill middlemen minority positions, and they have insufficient resources to overcome discrimination. Indeed, what often happens is that members of a large minority who can mobilize resources say, educational credentials move into middle-class positions
41、, leaving behind their fellow ethnics. For example, many blacks in America have made dramatic strides in moving to the middle-classes in the Post-Civil Rights era, but the fate of the vast majority of blacks in the lower classes has remained the same, or worsened over the last twenty-five years. Bla
42、ck America itself is thus divided by large class differences. 8 How were the Jews in feudal and early modern Europe discriminated? （ A） They were isolated in living in slum housing tracts. （ B） Only the lowest-paying occupations were available to them. （ C） Only very few high-paying professions were
43、 open to them. （ D） They suffered the same fate as the African-Americans. 9 The Asian-Americans are classified as the middleman minority mainly because_. （ A） their population is smaller than that of the African Americans （ B） they are not discriminated as severely as the African Americans （ C） they
44、 cannot go beyond small business （ D） they are a small minority with resources 10 Which of the following factor determines ones chance to move into the middle class? （ A） The population of the group one is in. （ B） Ones ability to make use of resources. （ C） Ones educational background. （ D） The sev
45、erity of discrimination. 二、 SECTION B In this section there are five short answer questions based on the passages in Section A. Answer the questions with No more than TEN words in the space provided. 11 PASSAGE ONE 11 What does “predecessor“ refer to in Paragraph three? 12 PASSAGE TWO 12 Who felt th
46、at the Self-Portrait with Straw Hat showed “an unfinished life“? 12 PASSAGE THREE 13 What does the author mean by “eating just on the lighter side of what I really need“? 14 What institution does the author, being an organizer, work for? 15 PASSAGE FOUR 15 What happens to the people of an ethnic min
47、ority in the genocide? 专业英语四级（阅读）模拟试卷 131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. 【知识模块】 阅读 1 【正确答案】 D 【试题解析】 由第
48、 1段最后两句可知雷鸟是神话中具有神奇力量的鸟类中的一种。第 2段第 2句指出该鸟的作用是 the Earth is watered and vegetation grows， D较好地概括了这两点。最强干扰项是 B，但由第 2段第 2句可知该项只提到一方面，还有 vegetation grows没有提到。 【知识模块】 阅读 2 【正确答案】 C 【试题解析】 第 3段倒数第 2句中的 thus表明凤凰与 “永生 ”、 “复活 ”等联系在一起的原因在前 文的内容提到，具体来说就是该段的第 4、 5句。将这三句的内容简单概括，就是 C的内容，可见 C为本题答案。 【知识模块】 阅读 【知识模块
49、】 阅读 3 【正确答案】 C 【试题解析】 第 1段末句的定语从句 “James Risser认为梵高的自画像表现了他对自我持续的探索 ”表达了 James Risser对梵高自画像的看法， C是对这个定语从句的同义改写，为本题答案。 【知识模块】 阅读 4 【正确答案】 C 【试题解析】 根据题干中的人名 Richard Kendall and T J Shackelford定位到第 4段第 5句。根据对段落结构的分析，可以发现， Richard Kendall和T J Shackelford的观点是与 Risser不同的，而 Richard Kendall和T J Shackelford的观点分散在第 4段第 4句到最后一句当中。仔细阅读这些句子，可以发现倒数第 2句提到他们这一派不赞同梵高自画像与梵高的心理分析有关，由此可见，他们最不认同的应该是 D的内容。 【知识模块】 阅读 5 【正确答案】 B 【试题解析】 最后一句中的 lay inrath er than表明梵高认为将来的艺术应强调 “表现力 ”，而非 “现实主义 ”，结合本段其他内容可知，梵高将这种
