1、大学英语四级改革适用（阅读）模拟试卷 32及答案与解析 Section C 0 In the early 20th century, few things were more appealing than the promise of scientific knowledge. In a world struggling with rapid industrialization, science and technology seemed to offer solutions to almost every problem. Newly created state colleges and u
2、niversities devoted themselves almost entirely to scientific, technological, and engineering fields. Many Americans came to believe that scientific certainty could not only solve scientific problems, but also reform politics, government, and business. Two world wars and a Great Depression rocked the
3、 confidence of many people that scientific expertise alone could create a prosperous and ordered world. After World War II, the academic world turned with new enthusiasm to humanistic studies, which seemed to many scholars the best way to ensure the survival of democracy. American scholars fanned ou
4、t across much of the world with support from the Ford Foundation, the Fulbright program, etc. to promote the teaching of literature and the arts in an effort to make the case for democratic freedoms. In the America of our own time, the great educational challenge has become an effort to strengthen t
5、he teaching of what is now known as the STEM disciplines(science, technology, engineering, and math). There is considerable and justified concern that the United States is falling behind much of the rest of the developed world in these essential disciplines. India, China, Japan, and other regions se
6、em to be seizing technological leadership. At the same time, perhaps inevitably, the humanities while still popular in elite colleges and universities have experienced a significant decline. Humanistic disciplines are seriously underfunded, not just by the government and the foundations but by acade
7、mic institutions themselves. Humanists are usually among the lowest-paid faculty members at most institutions and are often lightly regarded because they do not generate grant income and because they provide no obvious credentials(资 质 )for most nonacademic careers. Undoubtedly American education sho
8、uld train more scientists and engineers. Much of the concern among politicians about the state of American universities today is focused on the absence of “real world“ education which means preparation for professional and scientific careers. But the idea that institutions or their students must dec
9、ide between humanities and science is false. Our society could not survive without scientific and technological knowledge. But we would be equally impoverished(贫困的 )without humanistic knowledge as well. Science and technology teach us what we can do. Humanistic thinking helps us understand what we s
10、hould do. It is almost impossible to imagine our society without thinking of the extraordinary achievements of scientists and engineers in building our complicated world. But try to imagine our world as well without the remarkable works that have defined our culture and values. We have always needed
11、, and we still need, both. 1 Why are humanists regarded lightly today? （ A） Their income is too high. （ B） They are short of scientific knowledge. （ C） They benefit little in people s income and nonacademic job hunting. （ D） Humanistic disciplines are seriously underfunded. 2 Why is science and tech
12、nology so popular in the early 20th century? （ A） Because it could promote the nations social progress. （ B） Because it would help raise people s living standards. （ C） Because it quickened the pace of industrialization. （ D） Because they thought it can solve virtually all existing problems. 3 Why d
13、id so many humanists become enthusiastic about humanistic studies after World War II? （ A） They realized science and technology alone were no guarantee for a better world. （ B） They could get financial support from various foundations for humanistic studies. （ C） They wanted to improve their own sta
14、tus within the current education system. （ D） They believed the stability of a society depended heavily on humanistic studies. 4 What is the author s opinion about today s education? （ A） America is lagging behind in the STEM disciplines. （ B） Americans do not pay enough attention to humanistic stud
15、ies. （ C） The STEM subjects are too challenging for students to learn. （ D） Some Asian countries have overtaken America in basic sciences. 5 Why does the author think making decision between humanities and science is false? （ A） Science can develop quickly without humanities. （ B） They help prepare
16、students for their professional careers. （ C） Humanistic thinking helps define our culture and values. （ D） Humanistic thinking helps us understand what we should do. 5 The use of deferential language is symbolic of the Confucian ideal of the woman, which dominates conservative gender norms in Japan
17、. This ideal presents a woman who withdraws quietly to the background, subordinating her life and needs to those of her family and its male head. She is a dutiful daughter, wife, and mother, master of the domestic arts. The typical refined Japanese woman excels in modesty and delicacy; she “treads s
18、oftly(谨言慎行 )in the world,“ elevating feminine beauty and grace to an art form. Nowadays, it is commonly observed that young women are not conforming to the feminine linguistic(语言的 )ideal. They are using fewer of the very deferential “womens“ forms, and even using the few strong forms that are known
19、as “mens.“ This, of course, attracts considerable attention and has led to an outcry in the Japanese media against the defeminization of womens language. Indeed, we didnt hear about “mens language“ until people began to respond to girls appropriation of forms normally reserved for boys and men. Ther
20、e is considerable sentiment about the “corruption“ of womens languagewhich of course is viewed as part of the loss of feminine ideals and morality and this sentiment is crystallized by nationwide opinion polls that are regularly carried out by the media. Yoshiko Matsumoto has argued that young women
21、 probably never used as many of the highly deferential forms as older women. This highly polite style is no doubt something that young women have been expected to “grow into“ after all, it is assign not simply of femininity, but of maturity and refinement, and its use could be taken to indicate a ch
22、ange in the nature of ones social relations as well. One might well imagine little girls using exceedingly polite forms when playing house or imitating older women in a fashion analogous to little girls use of a high-pitched voice to do “teacher talk“ or “mother talk“ in role play. The fact that you
23、ng Japanese women are using less deferential language is a sure sign of change of social change and of linguistic change. But it is most certainly not a sign of the “masculization“ of girls. In some instances, it may be a sign that girls are making the same claim to authority as boys and men, but th
24、at is very different from saying that they are trying to be “masculine.“ Katsue Reynolds has argued that girls nowadays are using more assertive language strategies in order to be able to compete with boys in schools and out. Social change also brings not simply different positions for women and gir
25、ls, but different relations to life stages, and adolescent girls are participating in new sub-cultural forms. Thus what may, to an older speaker, seem like “masculine“ speech may seem to an adolescent like “liberated“ or “hip“ speech. 6 Which is not a character of a typical refined Japanese woman? （
26、 A） Modesty and delicacy. （ B） Beauty and grace to an art form. （ C） A little masculine. （ D） Influenced by Confucius on gender norms. 7 Today, young Japanese women have some changes in_from the traditional ones. （ A） linguistic behavior （ B） the deferential linguistic forms （ C） the form of male an
27、d female language （ D） strong linguistic expressions 8 How do some people react to womens appropriation of mens language forms as reported in the Japanese media? （ A） They call for a campaign to stop the defeminization. （ B） The see it as an expression of women s sentiment. （ C） They accept it as a
28、modern trend. （ D） They express strong disapproval. 9 The highly polite style_according to Yoshiko Matsumoto. （ A） may lead to changes in social relations （ B） has been true of all past generations （ C） is viewed as a sign of their maturity （ D） is a result of rapid social progress 10 Katsue Reynold
29、s believes the use of assertive language by young Japanese women is_. （ A） one of their strategies to compete in a male-dominated society （ B） an inevitable trend of linguistic development in Japan today （ C） a sure sign of their defeminization and maturation （ D） an indication of their defiance aga
30、inst social change 10 Wouldnt it be great if you could just look up at the sky and read the weather forecast right away? Well, you can. The forecast is written in clouds. If you can read that writing, you can tell something about the atmosphere. With some practice, you can become a pretty good weath
31、er forecaster. Who knows, you might even do as well as meteorologists. Meteorologists use much more information than just the appearance of the clouds to make their forecast. They collect data from all over the world. Then they put it into powerful, high-speed computers. This does give the meteorolo
32、gists an advantage, because they can track weather patterns as they move from west to east across the country. But you have an advantage, too. You can look at the sky and get your data directly. A meteorologist uses a computer forecast thats several hours old to make a local forecast. What are you s
33、eeing when you look at a cloud? “A picture of moisture is doing in the atmosphere,“ says meteorologist Peter Leavitt. Theres moisture throughout the atmosphere. Most of the time you dont see it, because its in the form of an invisible gas called water vapor. Sometimes, the temperature of the air get
34、s cold enough to cause the water vapor to change to liquid water. Its called condensation, and we see it happen all the time(for example, when humid air from the shower hits the cold glasses of a mirror). When enough water vapor condenses, droplets come in the air. These droplets scatter light. A cl
35、oud is seen. Watching clouds over a day or two tells you a lot more than a single cloud about the weather to come. Changes in clouds show changes in the atmosphere. You should begin to notice patterns. Certain clouds, following each other in order, can signal an approaching storm. But don t take our
36、 word for it; see for yourself. 11 The word “condensation“ in paragraph three means_. （ A） water vapor （ B） the temperature of the air （ C） humid air （ D） water vapor changes to liquid water when the air is cold enough 12 What does “meteorologists“ refer to_. （ A） people who study the earths atmosph
37、ere and its changes （ B） people who are in charge of weather forecast （ C） people who broadcast weather on TV （ D） people who study the earth s rocks the history of its development 13 If you want to learn weather forecasts, you d better_. （ A） watch it on TV （ B） watching clouds fluently in one day
38、or two （ C） buy more instruments at home （ D） watch a single cloud in the sky 14 Meteorologists make their weather forecast by_. （ A） watching clouds constantly （ B） collecting data from parts of the world （ C） calculating analyzing datas （ D） watching the sky 15 This passage mainly tells us about h
39、ow to_. （ A） broadcast the weather forecast （ B） forecast the weather by ourselves （ C） train yourself as a meteorologist （ D） be an assistant to a meteorologist 15 There is nothing like the suggestion of a cancer risk to scare a parent, especially one of the over-educated, eco-conscious type. So yo
40、u can imagine the reaction when a recent USA Today investigation of air quality around the nation s schools singled out those in the smugly green village of Berkeley, Calif, as being among the worst in the country. The citys public high school, as well as a number of daycare centers, preschools, ele
41、mentary and middle schools, fell in the lowest 10% . Industrial pollution in our town had supposedly turned students into living science experiments breathing in a laboratorys worth of heavy metals like manganese(锰 ), chromium(铬 )and nickel(镍 )each day. This in a city that requires school cafeterias
42、 to serve organic meals. Great, I thought, organic lunch, toxic campus. Since December, when the report came out, the mayor, neighborhood activists and various parent-teacher associations have engaged in a fierce battle over its validity: over the guilt of the steel-casting factory on the western ed
43、ge of town, over union jobs versus children s health and over what, if anything, ought to be done. With all sides presenting their own experts armed with conflicting scientific studies, whom should parents believe? Is there truly a threat here, we asked one another as we dropped off our kids, and if
44、 so, how great is it? And how does it compare with the other, seemingly perpetual health scares we confront, like panic over lead in synthetic athletic fields? Rather than just another weird episode in the town that brought you protesting environmentalists, this latest drama is a trial for how today
45、 s parents perceive risk, how we try to keep our kids safe whether its possible to keep them safe in what feels like an increasingly threatening world. It raises the question of what, in our time, “safe“ could even mean. “Theres no way around the uncertainty,“ says Kimberly Thompson, president of Ki
46、d Risk, a nonprofit group that studies children s health. “That means your choices can matter, but it also means you arent going to know if they do.“ A 2004 report in the journal Pediatrics explained that nervous parents have more to fear from fire, car accidents and drowning than from toxic chemica
47、l exposure. To which I say: Well, obviously. But such concrete hazards are beside the point. Its the dangers parents cantand may never quantify that occur all of sudden. Thats why Ive rid my cupboard of microwave food packed in bags coated with a potential cancer-causing substance, but although I ve
48、 lived blocks from a major fault line(地质断层 )for more than 12 years, I still havent bolted our bookcases to the living room wall. 16 Parents are_with the experts studies. （ A） happy （ B） frightened by the evidence （ C） uncertain and doubted （ D） relieved 17 The investigation by USA Today revealed tha
49、t_. （ A） heavy metals in lab tests threaten children s health in Berkeley （ B） parents in Berkeley are over worried about cancer risks their kids may face （ C） the air around Berkeley s school campuses is polluted （ D） berkeley residents are quite contented with their surroundings 18 USA Today s report has_. （ A） caused panic in parents in Berkeley （ B） gained popular support （ C） brought strong criticism （ D） caused a fierce debate 19 The report in the journal Pediatrics
