1、专业英语四级（阅读）模拟试卷 8及答案与解析 0 Just when most literary fiction reads like an endless meditation on how many neurotics can dance on the head of a pin, along comes Michael Cunninghams wildly ambitious, brave new novel, Specimen Days. Like Cunninghams 1998 Pulitzer Prize winner, The Hours, which presents thr
2、ee novellas connected through Virginia Woolf s Mrs. Dalloway. Specimen Days pulls three stories together through the work of Walt Whitman.(Although Cunningham quotes extensively from Whitman and his Leaves of Grass, the book does not require deep knowledge of the poet, but one finishes Specimen Days
3、 with a desire to read more Whitman.) What makes this such a compelling read is the way Cunningham draws on the past to mirror contemporary concerns. And most frightening are our secret fears about the future on an ecologically damaged planet Earth where science has run amok. Courageously, Cunningha
4、m includes elements of science fiction in the last novella; lizard-like aliens, raving theocrats and creatures bred in test tubes, their genetic material and behavior fine-tuned to fit more compliantly into society. The first novella introduces Lucas. He is a Whitman-quoting 12-year-old boy in 19th-
5、century New York City. His older brother, Simon, has died in a gruesome factory accident, leaving behind his fiancee, Catherine. Lucas fills his brothers job, manning a brutal machine. Cunningham captures the dehumanizing industrialization in which machines literally devour workers as the natural wo
6、rld celebrated by Whitman vanishes. In the second novella, Catherine is now Cat, a black psychologist who mans the police phones in an edgy post 9/11 Manhattan where a multitude of crazies call in to threaten doom and destruction. Involved with a younger, white, rich futures broker named Simon, Cat
7、still grieves for a dead son named Luke and senses that this urban world has become a soul-scouring nightmare. The final chapter, set in a post-apocalypse future, is the most ambitious. Simon is a “simulo“ , a worker in Old New York, the theme park that Manhattan has become. Tourists from around the
8、 world come to experience in safety the thrills that walking in Central Park in the 20th century once offered. The United States has splintered, surveillance is continual, birth deformities multiply, and our worst fears are realized. Like Margaret Atwood and her chilling futuristic The Handmaids Tal
9、e, Cunningham leaps into the realm of imagination. Yet because Whitman remains Cunninghams inspiration, the novelist offers a form of hope. 1 This book review is about_novel. （ A） Walt Whitmans （ B） Virginia Woolfs （ C） Margaret Atwoods （ D） Michael Cunninghams 2 Which of the following is INCORRECT
10、according to the passage? （ A） Simon is killed in a factory accident. （ B） There is a nightmare in the second chapter. （ C） Manhattan has become the theme park in the final chapter. （ D） Cunningham offers a form of hope to the readers in his novel. 3 Which of the following characters is NOT mentione
11、d in Specimen Days! （ A） Luke. （ B） Margaret. （ C） Catherine. （ D） Simon. 4 Which of the following is INCORRECT according to the passage? （ A） Cunningham draws on the past to mirror contemporary concerns. （ B） After reading his novels people decided not to read Whitmans work again. （ C） Specimen Day
12、s threads three stories together through the work of Walt Whitman. （ D） The Hours made Cunningham the 1998 Pulitzer Prize winner. 4 Americans often say that there are only two things a person can be sure of in life: death and taxes. Americans do not have a corner on the “death“ market, but many peop
13、le feel that the United States leads the world with the most taxes. Taxes consist of the money which people pay to support their government. There are generally three levels of government in the United States; federal, state, and city; therefore , there are three types of taxes. Salaried people who
14、earn more than a few thousand dollars must pay a certain percentage of their salaries to the federal government. The percentage varies from person to person. It depends on their salaries. The federal government has a graduated income tax, that is, the percentage of the tax(14 to 70 percent)increases
15、 as a persons income increases. With the high cost of taxes, people are not very happy on April 15, when the federal taxes are due. The second tax is for the state government: New York, California, North Dakota, or any of the other forty-seven states. Some states have an income tax similar to that o
16、f the federal government. Of course, the percentage for the state tax is lower. Other states have a sales tax, which is a percentage charged to any item which you buy in that state. For example, a person might want to buy a packet of cigarettes for twenty-five cents. If there is a sales tax of eight
17、 percent in that state, then the cost of the cigarettes is twenty-seven cents. This figure includes the sales tax. Some states use income tax in addition to sales tax to raise: their revenues. The state tax laws are diverse and confusing. The third tax is for the city. This tax comes in two forms; p
18、roperty tax(people who own a home have to pay taxes on it)and excise tax, which is charged on cars in a city. The cities use these funds for education, police and fire departments, public works and municipal buildings. Since Americans pay such high taxes, they often feel that they are working one da
19、y each week just to pay their taxes. People always complain about taxes. They often protest that the government uses their tax dollars in the wrong way. They say that it spends too much on useless and impractical programs. Although Americans have different views on many issues, they tend to agree on
20、 one subject: taxes are too high. 5 What does the sentence “Americans do not have a corner on the death market“ in Paragraph 1 mean? （ A） Americans cannot monopolize the “death“ market. （ B） Americans do not have a secret place to keep from death in their life. （ C） Americans are not good at doing b
21、usiness in the death market. （ D） There is no such a place as a “death“ market in the US. 6 Whats the attitude of the Americans towards the high taxes? （ A） Taking them easy. （ B） Trying to resist them. （ C） Taking them as their duty. （ D） Complaining and protesting. 7 Which one is CORRECT about the
22、 percentage for the federal tax and the state tax? （ A） They have the same percentage. （ B） The percentage for the state tax is higher than that for the federal tax. （ C） The percentage for the federal tax is higher than that for the state tax. （ D） It is not mentioned in the passage. 8 Which of the
23、 following is INCORRECT according to the passage? （ A） Excise tax is charged on cars. （ B） There is a unified state tax laws. （ C） Income tax increases as a persons income increases. （ D） Some states have both an income tax and a sales tax. 9 Which of the following usages of the taxes is NOT mention
24、ed in the passage? （ A） For raising their revenues. （ B） For public works and municipal buildings. （ C） For police and fire departments. （ D） For sustaining development. 9 Im in one of the many city people who are always saying that given the choice we would prefer to live in the country away from t
25、he dirt and noise of a large city. I have managed to convince myself that if it werent for my job I would immediately head out for the open spaces and go back to nature in some sleepy village buried in the country. But how realistic is the dream? Cities can be frightening places. The majority of the
26、 population lives in massive tower blocks, noisy, dirty and impersonal. The sense of belonging to a community tends to disappear when you live fifteen floors up. All you can see from your window is sky, or other blocks of flats. Children become aggressive and nervous cooped up at home all day, with
27、nowhere to play; their mothers feel isolated from the rest of the world. Strangely enough, whereas in the past the inhabitants of one street all knew each other, nowadays people in the same floor in tower blocks dont even say hello to each other. Country life, on the other hand, differs from this ki
28、nd of isolated existence in that a sense of community generally binds the inhabitants of small village together. People have the advantage of knowing that there is always someone to turn to when they need help. But country life has disadvantages too. While it is true that you are cut off from the ex
29、citing and important events that take place in cities. Theres little possibility of going to a new show or the latest movie. Shopping becomes a major problem, and for anything slightly out of the ordinary you have to go on an expedition to the nearest large town. The city dweller who leaves for the
30、country is often oppressed by a sense of unbearable stillness and quiet. What, then, is the answer? The country has the advantage of peace and quiet, but suffers from the disadvantage of being cut off; the city breeds a feeling of isolation, and constant noise batters the senses. But one of its main
31、 advantages is that you are at the center of things, and that life doesnt come to an end at half past nine at night. Some people have found(or rather bought)a compromise between the two; they have expressed their preference for the “quiet life“ by leaving the suburbs and moving to villages within co
32、mmuting distance of large cities. What then of my dreams of leaning on a cottage gate and murmuring “ morning“ to the locals as they pass by. Im keen on the idea, but you see theres my cat, Toby. Im not at all sure that he would take to all that fresh air and exercise in the long grass. I mean, can
33、you see him mixing with all those hearty males down the farm? No, he would rather have the electric imitation-coal fire any evening. 10 We get the impression from the first paragraph that the author_. （ A） used to live in the country （ B） used to work in the city （ C） works in the city （ D） lives in
34、 the country 11 In the authors opinion, all of the following may cause city people to be unhappy EXCEPT_. （ A） being noisy, dirty and impersonal （ B） lack of communication （ C） housing conditions （ D） a sense of isolation 12 Which of the following is NOT a disadvantage of country life? （ A） That you
35、 feel you are separated from the world. （ B） That you have no secrets. （ C） That you have little chance of visiting a cinema. （ D） That shopping centers are far away from your house. 13 Whats the possible solution to those working in the cities but preferring living in the countries? （ A） Resigning
36、their jobs and moving to the country. （ B） Living in villages within commuting distance of the cities. （ C） Living and working in the countryside. （ D） Building a village in the city and living in it. 14 Do you think the author will move to the country? （ A） No, he will not do so. （ B） Yes, he will
37、do so. （ C） It is difficult to tell. （ D） He is in two minds. 14 Ten years ago, Joe Allen began studying a diverse group of seventh graders near the University of Virginia, where hes a professor. One of Allens main concerns was how these kids dealt with peer pressure, and how deeply they felt the pr
38、essure to conform to what the crowd was doing. According to every pop theory of adolescence, peer pressure is peril. Being able to resist it should be considered a sign of character strength. But a funny thing happened as Allen continued to follow these kids every year for the next 10 years: the kid
39、s who felt more peer pressure when they were 12 or 13 were turning out better. Notably, they had much higher-quality relationships with friends, parents, and romantic partners. Their need to fit in, in the early teens, later manifested itself as a willingness to accommodate a necessary component of
40、all reciprocal relationships. The self-conscious kid who spent seventh grade convinced that everyone was watching her learned to be attuned to subtle changes in others moods. Years down the road, that heightened sensitivity lead to empathy and social adeptness. Meanwhile, those kids who did not feel
41、 much peer pressure to smoke, drink, and shoplift in seventh grade didnt turn out to be the independent-minded stars wed imagine. Instead, what was notable about them was that within five years they had a much lower GPA(Grade-Point Average)almost a full grade lower. The kid who could say no to his p
42、eers turned out to be less engaged, all around, socially and academically. Basically, if he was so detached that he didnt care what his peers thought, he probably wasnt motivated by what his parents or society expected of him, either. Allen has found that vulnerability(脆弱性 )to peers influence can be
43、 just as much of an asset as it is a liability. Many of the pressures felt by teens pull them in a good direction they feel pressure to do well in school, pressure to not act childish, and pressure to be athletic. “We think of susceptibility to peer pressure as only a danger, but, really, its out of
44、 peer pressure that boys learn to take showers and not come to school smelly. Allen co-author of the forthcoming book Escaping the Endless Adolescence has come to the conclusion that the dangers of peer pressure are somewhat overblown. Particularly when it comes to the archetypal(典型的 )portrayal of p
45、eer pressure: kids forcing each other to experiment with drugs and alcohol. Allen argues that in those instances, more often than not, it isnt peer pressure that is at work, but instead the operative factor is peer selection. “The pressure to smoke and drink is less than we thought, “ concludes Alle
46、n. “To a parent, it seems like your child is suddenly smoking and drinking, and its reasonable to think this was caused by the new kids hes been hanging out with the last month. But really, those who are about to smoke or drink pick other kids in a similar spot. “ Teens give each other subtle cues t
47、hat theyre ready to deviate: it could be nothing more than ignoring the Pledge of Allegiance(效忠誓言 )or a well-timed snicker while the teachers at the blackboard. By the time one says, “Lets hang out after school, “ the plot is already in motion. 15 The pop theories of adolescence always claim that_.
48、（ A） peer pressure is not so dangerous as we thought （ B） teens usually conform to what the crowd was doing （ C） the kids who felt more peer pressure were turning out better （ D） teens who are able to resist peer pressure have advantage in character 16 The kids who did not feel much peer pressure tu
49、rn out to be_. （ A） better in handling relationships with others （ B） much worse in studying than those who did （ C） independent-minded as wed imagined （ D） motivated to become the person they are expected 17 Which of the following is CORRECT about Joe Allen? （ A） He studied different groups of college students for ten years. （ B） His conclusion about peer pressure is similar to pop theories. （ C） He has found that many of the peer pressures are good for teens. （ D） He published a new book which was written by hi
