1、国家公共英语四级（综合）练习试卷 32及答案与解析 Part B Directions: Read the following four texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C or D . Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET 1. 0 Americans have a craze for the sun, a belief that sun will cure chronic illness, and that where there is sunshine there w
2、ill be a job or, if not a job, at least a warm, pleasant place to be unemployed. There will be low electricity bills, and no need to spend much on clothes ! There will be the simple luxury of being able to sit on the porch the whole year round in an open-necked shirt or a swimsuit. The most desirabl
3、e place in the American sun is the coastline of southern California, for here the climate is Mediterranean. It is rarely too hot and rarely too cold. This being so, the price of apartment and rents, and land for building homes, is beyond the means of the average sun-seeker. The neighboring state of
4、New Mexico is now waiting with dread for the flux of sunworshippers. New Mexico is proud of its wild mountains and deserts and its two romantic rivers, the Rio Grande and the Rio Peeks. A former governor of the State wrote: “We can no longer afford the luxury of developers who care greatly for the p
5、rofits of land use but little for the land itself.“ To many New Mexicans, Californias greatest city, Los Angeles, is the perfect example of what a city should not be. There are more automobiles per head of population in Los Angeles than in any other American city. Until unleaded gasoline was introdu
6、ced car fumes were a danger to health and the Los Angeles smog was as Londons fog used to be. Florida is perhaps the most popular state in the Sun Belt. In fact, it calls itself “The Sun-shine State.“ It has a subtropical climate and is ideal for a winter vacation. From November to March northerners
7、 and easterners come in their tens of thousands to lie on the warm, sandy beaches of Miami. Palm beach and the other resorts along the coast. But Florida is also full of retired people. They have for years been coming to spend their last days in the subtropical sun. Many of them are poor and live in
8、 tiny houses or apartments. But they do not have to worry about the dreaded winter cold. They do not have to buy warm clothes. They can live reasonably contented on their pensions. More and more houses in the Sun Belt use solar energy for their heating. So far the heat from the sun can only be used
9、in a passive role, that is to say, it can be stored and used for heating the house and the washing water-but it cannot yet be turned into energy for cooking or for lighting. However, experiments are going on in southern Arizona, and scientists hope that before too long it will be possible to feed en
10、ergy from the sun directly into the national electricity grid. One day Americas sunshine may become one of her greatest assets. 1 What belief do Americans have? （ A） They believe that the sun will be the panacea. （ B） They believe that sunshine will provide a warm, pleasant place for unemployed peop
11、le. （ C） They believe that sunshine will save electricity but not the expense on clothes. （ D） They believe that an open-necked shirt or swimsuit is the luxury. 2 Why is the coastline of Southern California the most desirable place in the American sun? （ A） Because the climate is tropical. （ B） Beca
12、use the average sun-seeker can afford to live there. （ C） Because it is seldom too hot and seldom too cold. （ D） Because the price of apartments and rents are reasonable. 3 What does the word “dread“ in the third paragraph mean? （ A） Longing. （ B） Patience. （ C） Curiosity. （ D） Worry. 4 Why have ret
13、ired people been coming to spend their last days in Florida? （ A） They can afford to do so on their pensions. （ B） They are provided with a decent sum of pensions. （ C） The food there is good for their health. （ D） They can earn some extra money there. 5 Which of the following statements is true? （
14、A） Solar energy can be used for heating, washing, cooking and lighting. （ B） Solar energy can only be used in a passive role now. （ C） Solar energy can be fed directly into the national electricity grid. （ D） Solar energy can become Americas greatest property one day. 5 When it comes to foods, Ameri
15、ca is not just the fattest country on earth but probably the most schizophrenic as well-home to the Big Mac and Weight Watchers, the super model and the couch potato. The love-hate relationship with food was examined in the documentary “Fat“ which aired on November 3, and if there is any comfort for
16、 the more than 90 million overweight Americans its that the rest of the world is also getting fatter. “There is an enormous pressure on people to be thin and to be physically fit but at the same time there is a tremendous pressure and inducement to eat, “Or Kelly Brownell, professor of psychology at
17、 Yale University and a participant in the programme, said in an interview. “You will see a Baskin Robbins next to Weight Watchers. Youll see a Family Circle magazine with a delicious chocolate cake on the cover beside a diet article, “said Brownell. “At the same time as we have record levels of obes
18、ity, we have record levels of eating disorders too,“ he said. The desire to eat fatty food came from a primitive survival instinct to store enough energy in good times to ensure survival when food was scare. But in a modern urban society, where fast food chains appear on almost every block, the inst
19、inct to eat far has begun to work against us. The documentary claims that nowhere is the exposure to junk food more prevalent than in the United States, where the problem has been compounded by the increasingly sedentary modern lifestyle. It also says that members of Arizonas Pima Indian tribe are t
20、he fattest people in the fattest country on earth. Until recently the tribe lived a simple life, but in 1984 when the tribe won a gaming stream. Today the tribe is plagued by obesity, high blood pressure and heart disease. Just 800 kms south in Mexico, another branch of the Pima tribe continues to l
21、ive a traditional life and eats a traditional diets. These Pima have none of the problems of their American counterparts, who are on average 27kgs heavier. Part of the problem, according to Brownetl, is the intense advertising of junk food in the United States. The average American child sees thousa
22、nds of TV commercials each year, most of which advertise fast food, candy and sodas. The food environment has become so “toxic“ according to the documentary, that some US schools even offers fast food such as McDonalds and Burger King in school cafeterias. 6 “If there is any comfort for the more tha
23、n 90 million overweight Americans its that the rest of the world is also getting fatter.“ What does this sentence mean? （ A） Overweight Americans will be glad to see the rest of he world is getting fatter. （ B） Actually there is no comfort at all for overweight Americans. （ C） The rest of the world
24、had sympathy on overweight Americans. （ D） Overweight Americans dislike thin person. 7 What does “weight watchers“ refer to? （ A） Persons who measure weight. （ B） Obesity person. （ C） Thin person. （ D） Americans. 8 What does “the instinct to eat fat has begun to work against us“ mean? （ A） Fast food
25、 does offer enough fat to our bodies. （ B） Fast food makes the instinct decrease. （ C） Fast food offers too much fat to absorb. （ D） The instinct refuse to receive the fat in fast food. 9 Compared with Arizonas Pima Indian, Pima diet in Mexico remains healthy because _. （ A） they are far away from A
26、merica （ B） they are thin （ C） they lives comfortably than those Arizonas Pima （ D） they dont follow Americans to eat junk food 10 What does “toxic“ mean? （ A） Convenient. （ B） Ideal. （ C） Poisonous. （ D） Safe. 10 Wise compromise is one of the basic principles and virtues of the British. If a contin
27、ental greengrocer asks 14 shillings (or crown, or francs) for a bunch of radishes, and his customer offers 2, and finally they strike bargain agreeing on 6 shillings, this is just the low continental habit of bargaining; on the other hand if the British dock-workers or any other workers claim a rise
28、 of 4 shillings per day, and the employers first flatly refuse even a penny, but after a six weeks strike they agree to a rise of 2 shillings a day-that is yet another proof of the British genius for compromise. Bargaining is a repulsive habit; compromise is one of the highest human virtues-the diff
29、erence between the two being that the first is practiced on the Continent, the latter in Great Britain. The genius for compromise has another aspect, too. It has a tendency to unite together everything which is bad. English club life, for instance, unites the liabilities of social life with the bore
30、dom of solitude. An average English house combines all the curses of civilization with the ups and downs of life in the open. It is all right to have windows, but you must not have double windows because double would indeed stop the wind from blowing right into the room, and after all, you must be f
31、air and give the wind a chance. It is all right to have central heating in an English home, except in the bathroom, because that is the only place where you are naked and wet at the same time, and you must give British germs a fair chance. The open fire is an accepted, indeed a traditional instituti
32、on. You sit in front of it and your face is hot whilst your back is cold. It is a fair compromise between two extremes and settles the problems of how to burn and catch cold at the same time. English spelling is a compromise between documentary expressions and an elaborate code-system; spending 3 ho
33、urs in a queue in front of a cinema is a compromise between entertainment and asceticism; the English weather is a fair compromise between rain and fog; to employ an English charwoman is a compromise between having a dirty house and cleaning it yourself; Yorkshire pudding is a compromise between a p
34、udding and the county of Yorkshire. 11 The tone of the author in writing this passage is a(n) _ one. （ A） satirical （ B） earnest （ C） sincere （ D） delightful 12 In what way can English spelling justifiably be described as an elaborate code-system? （ A） English spelling is formal and good. （ B） Engli
35、sh is good for documents and a code-system. （ C） English is elaborate in describing things. （ D） English is neither formal nor good at expressing small differences. 13 What do you think is implied about the English weather? （ A） It is foggy when it is raining. （ B） It is sunny and bright. （ C） It is
36、 either foggy or rainy. （ D） It is determined by humidity. 14 What is the best title for this passage? （ A） Bargaining and Compromise. （ B） Wise and Compromise in Britain. （ C） Britain and Europe. （ D） Setbacks of Compromise. 15 What does the word “tendency“ in paragraph 3, line 1, mean? （ A） Fashio
37、n. （ B） Tide. （ C） Intensity. （ D） Trend. 15 Very early in the morning, before daybreak for the greater part of the year, the men would throw on their clothes, breakfast on bread and fat, snatch the dinner baskets which had been packed for them overnight, and hurry off across the fields to the farm.
38、 Getting the boys off was a more difficult matter. Mothers would have to call and shake and sometimes pull boys of eleven or twelve out of their warm beds in a winter morning. Most of the young and those in the prime of life were thickset, red-faced men of good medium height and enormous strength, w
39、ho prided themselves on the weights they could carry and boasted of never having had an ache nor a pain in their lives. The elders stooped, had gnarled and swollen hands and, walked badly, for they felt the effects of a life spent out of doors in all weathers and of the rheumatism which tried most o
40、f them. They still spoke the dialect, in which the vowels were not only broadened, but in many words doubled. Boy was “boo-oy,“ cola “coo-al“ and so on. In other words, syllables were slurred and words were run together, as “brenbuer“ for bread and butter. They had hundreds of proverbs and sayings a
41、nd their talk was stiff with simile. Nothing was ever simply hot, cold or colored; it was “as hot as hell, as cold as ice, as green as grass“ or “as yellow as a guinea“. To be nervy was to be “like a cat on hot bricks“; to be angry , “mad as a bull“, or any one might be “poor as a rat“, “sick as a d
42、og“ , “as ugly as sin“ , “full of the milk of human kindness“, or “stinking with pride“ . The mens incomes were the same to a penny (ten shillings a week); their circumstances, pleasures, and their daily field work were shared in common but in themselves they differed, as other men of their day diff
43、ered, in country and town. Some were intelligent, others slow in the uptake, some were kind and helpful, others selfish. A stranger would not have found the dry humor of the Scottish peasant, or the racy wit and wisdom of Thomas Hardys Wessex. These mens minds were east in a heavier mould and moved
44、more slowly. Yet there were occasional gleams of quiet fun. When Edmund was crying because his pet magpie had flown away one man told him to go and tell Mrs. Andrews about it (she was the village gossip) “and youll soon know where shes been seen.“ Their favorite virtue was endurance. Not to flinch f
45、rom pain or hardship was their ideal. A young woman would say to the midwife after her first confinement, “I didnt flinch, did I? Oh, I do hope I didnt flinch“, and a man would tell how he had taken a piece of fence to fight off a charging bull, and not he but the bull had “flinched.“ 16 Most of the
46、 younger men were _. （ A） satisfied with their weight and good health （ B） boastful of their great height and energy （ C） vain about their good health and strength （ D） proud of their being able to carry light weights 17 Although the old men spoke their local dialect, _. （ A） it was going out of fas
47、hion with their parents （ B） it was difficult for the younger people to understand them （ C） it is still spoken by the local people today （ D） it is not spoken by all the local people today 18 The author says that these men all had different characters although _. （ A） a stranger might have found th
48、em boring and uninteresting （ B） outwardly they all lived in exactly the same way as each other （ C） men in those days had different regional characteristics （ D） they had very boring lives with no modern entertainment 19 The villagers admired people who _. （ A） did not show fear and suffered pain b
49、ravely （ B） could give birth to children without difficulty or fuss （ C） could fight with bulls and other fierce animals （ D） could make other people afraid and respectful 20 The villagers attitude toward the people who was coward was _. （ A） indifferent （ B） happy （ C） suspicious （ D） disparaging Part D Directions: Read the following text carefully and then translate the underlined segments into Chinese. Your translation should be written clearly on ANSWER SHEET 2. 20 Immediately after the Civil War, however, the diet began
