1、大学英语四级模拟试卷 234及答案与解析 一、 Part I Writing (30 minutes) 1 For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write a short essay “A Boom in Adult Education“. You should write at least 120 words following the outline given below. Adults in Different Ages Continue Education 1. 简要描述这一图表说明的现象； 2. 简析出现这种成人教育热的原因；
2、3. 概述其意义及影响。 二、 Part II Reading Comprehension (Skimming and Scanning) (15 minutes) Directions: In this part, you will have 15 minutes to go over the passage quickly and answer the questions attached to the passage. For questions 1-7, mark： Y (for YES) if the statement agrees with the information giv
3、en in the passage; N (for NO) if the statement contradicts the information given in the passage; NG (for NOT GIVEN) if the information is not given in the passage. 1 Fantasy Flight: Chiaki Mukai, Japans First Female Astronaut Raised by a working mother in Gunma Prefecture, a place known for dry wind
4、s and tough women, Chiaki Mukai decided she wanted to become a doctor while she was still in elementary school. At 32, she was a cardiovascular(心血管的 )surgeon and chief resident at the Keio Hospital in Tokyo. Then she saw the newspaper ad that changed her life. The beginning of a dream The National S
5、pace Development Agency of Japan (NASDA) was looking for astronauts. What really shocked Chiaki, as she prefers to be known, was that there were no gender restrictions. She suffered for three days. Weightlessness has much to offer scientific research, she thought. If I dont try, Ill regret it for th
6、e rest of my life. “I had no idea what to expect,“ Chiaki said, giving one of her trademark smiles. “But I started two training programs the day I sent in my application. First, I started learning English. Then I began working out with weights.“ Her English study program was entirely self-constructe
7、d. She made English labels for everything in the house. “I wanted it to seem like I was living in an English-speaking country,“ she explained. She answered the phone in English. She read English-language books. In August 1985, NASDA chose three payload specialists for the 1992 Spacelab-J launch Mamo
8、ru Mohri, Takao Doi, and Chiaki Mukai. Chiakis journey to the stars had begun. The journey to space “You can never give up,“ Chiaki says. “The life of Marie Curie taught me that. I read time and again how she struggled with her home, her children, and her scientific dream. And she achieved her goals
9、 even though it cost her life. “My mother is the same kind of woman. She didnt want to depend on someone else for her livelihood, so she opened a haberdashery(男子服饰用品店 )in our hometown. She still runs it.“ Chiakis mother didnt blink an eye when her daughter told her of being chosen as an astronaut. “
10、You never know what lifes going to deal you,“ she said to Chiaki. “So you must do what you really want to.“ Once she started her training for space, Chiefs roster(名单 )of heroes grew longer. “Yuri Gagarin was the pioneer,“ she said. “I have immense respect for him. And Nell Armstrong it was really gr
11、eat, what he did. That must have been a fantastic voyage. But then all the people I worked with at NASA and NASDA are heroes in their own way. So how do I choose? Chiaki gestured at the bustle(喧嚣 )of Tokyo outside the window. “From here, we cant see very much. But from 300 miles up, you realize how
12、small the earth is. But you know what I first learned in Orlando, Florida at Disneyworld.“ Which brings Chiaki to another of her heroes: Walt Disney. Like Chiaki, he was a dreamer. And he shared his dreams of fantastic worlds with others. She is fascinated by the way his movies, gentle and natural,
13、teach us about humanity. “Disney, and science fiction writers like Arthur C. Clarke, realized the Earth is just a small planet without having to go into space. Their accomplishment is much greater in a way than ours. We saw with our eyes. They saw with their minds eyes.“ The first Japanese astronaut
14、 to fly an American space shuttle was Mamoru Mohri, who went as payload specialist on the Spacelab-J, a flight funded largely by Japan. Chiaki and Takao Doi backed him up. After Mohris flight touched down, Chiaki journeyed back to Japan to begin work in the microgravity lab at Tsukuba. But word soon
15、 came that she had been chosen as payload specialist for the International Microgravity Laboratory-2 (IML-2), so she returned to take up the training where shed paused. “Mohri was chosen to fly the Japanese-funded space shuttle, so there was never any doubt that hed go. But the IML-2 was an internat
16、ional flight. NASA didnt have to choose me. And there were half-a- dozen well-qualified alternatives who could have gone in my place. The pressure is tremendous. Chiaki says she had a hard time understanding jokes told in southern accents. “Flying is fine. Acronyms(首字母缩拼词 ) are easy to learn, so you
17、 dont even have to speak in sentences. But jokes. Whew! Or tales about family. Any time the subject strayed from work, I was in trouble. In preparation for her flight, Chiaki took more than a thousand of the training flights that give passengers twenty seconds of weightlessness. “Twenty seconds is n
18、othing like the real thing,“ Chiaki says ruefully. “No matter how many times you do it.“ The dream came true On 8 July 1994, a quarter of a century after Neff Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the surface of the moon, the IML-2 mission blasted off. Soon the shuttle Columbia was in orbit, and Chiak
19、is work began. Before the shuttle touched down two weeks later, she had appeared on childrens television, played midwife(接生婆 )to a brood of newts(蝾螈 ), used her own body to record the effects of weightlessness on human beings 82 experiments in all. “Way out there, looking down at the curvature of th
20、e earth, I couldnt help thinking what a small world this is. Compared to all of outer space, Earth is like one tiny plankton (浮游生物 ) swimming in a vast ocean. Yet look at the power of mankind. Look where we are, 300 miles above the surface. Were so very fragile, yet so very strong. “Back on earth, I
21、 made an astounding discovery. When you let go of things, they drop! I was constantly reminded of Earths tremendous pull. For nearly three days after touchdown, every step reminded me of gravity. Every move I made was a tussle with weight. Yet after three days, my body adjusted. Isnt that marvelous?
22、“ While scientists continue to research the many implications of weightlessness, Chiaki envisions great medical benefits from microgravitational situations. Rehabilitation (康复 )would make tremendous strides, she maintains. “People with handicaps in full gravity might not have them in zero gravity co
23、nditions. They could practice movements at zero, 0.25 G, 0.5G, and so on until they were competent at normal gravity. “ To understand the functions of the eye, we remove all light, Chiaki explains. To understand the functions of the ear, we remove all sound, and work from there. So she says that rem
24、oving the weight of gravity will bring mankind new understanding of how the human body works. The impossible dream Cervantes is another Chiaki hero, or perhaps we should say Don Quixote. “I love Man of La Mancha. I cry every time I see it.“ She hums: “To dream the impossible dream “ “I like the way
25、they translated that song into Japanese,“ she says. “Instead of impossible dream, it comes out unreachable dream and means that as soon as you have fulfilled one dream, another even more vivid dream forms.“ She stands in her grey-green double-breasted suit and thrusts out a hand. Her grasp is firm,
26、like her vision. With a smile, she strides away. Back to her laboratory in Tsukuba. Where shell work regular 12- hour days., reaching for the stars. 2 Raised by a working mother, Chiaki Mukai dreamed of becoming an astronaut when she was still a child. （ A） Y （ B） N （ C） NG 3 Chiaki Mukai was surpri
27、sed to learn that women could also apply for the position of an astronaut. （ A） Y （ B） N （ C） NG 4 Chiaki Mukais mother was against her daughters choice because she thought that being an astronaut was dangerous. （ A） Y （ B） N （ C） NG 5 Chiaki Mukai was the first Japanese astronaut to fly a space shu
28、ttle. （ A） Y （ B） N （ C） NG 6 Chiaki Mukai was chosen by NASA because she was female and warm-hearted. （ A） Y （ B） N （ C） NG 7 Seen from the outer space, the earth is much smaller than the other planets or stars. （ A） Y （ B） N （ C） NG 8 After returning from her flight, Chiaki Mukai had difficulty in
29、 adjusting to the gravity on the earth. （ A） Y （ B） N （ C） NG 9 Being in a situation of weightlessness will help mankind further understand _. 10 According to Chiaki Mukai, the impossible dream or unreachable dream means once one has realized one dream, _. 11 To Chiaki Mukai, her next dream may be _
30、. Section A Directions: In this section, you will hear 8 short conversations and 2 long conversations. At the end of each conversation, one or more questions will be asked about what was said. Both the conversation and the questions will be spoken only once. After each question there will be a pause
31、. During the pause, you must read the four choices marked A, B, C and D, and decide which is the best answer. （ A） They are going to the airport. （ B） They are going to call Mr Brown. （ C） They are going to the Browns. （ D） They are to buy the Brown a present. （ A） She will pay for the meal. （ B） Sh
32、e doesnt know what to do. （ C） She offers to pay her part. （ D） She doesnt know what she owes him. （ A） Its very interesting. （ B） Its uninteresting. （ C） It couldnt be better. （ D） Its a comedy. （ A） It didnt include enough details. （ B） George didnt talk much. （ C） It wasnt long enough. （ D） Georg
33、e talked too much. （ A） He suggests that she buy a portable computer. （ B） He advises her to buy an expensive one. （ C） He suggests that she buy an old one. （ D） He advises her to buy a new one. （ A） He is a short-tempered person. （ B） It doesnt matter whether you have a good temper or bad temper. （
34、 C） He thinks himself to be a patient person. （ D） He wont accept this position. （ A） Professor and student. （ B） Husband and wife. （ C） Manager and secretary. （ D） Doctor and nurse. （ A） Its different from that in China. （ B） Its completely the same as that in China. （ C） Its less interesting than
35、that in China. （ D） Its mom colorful than that in China. （ A） She had lost her wallet. （ B） She was lost and couldnt find her way back to her hotel. （ C） She didnt know where she had lost her identity card. （ D） She didnt know the way to the theatre. （ A） Her visa. （ B） Her identity cards. （ C） Some
36、 photos. （ D） Her passport. （ A） Hell go to the police station. （ B） Hell go to put an advertisement on China Daily. （ C） Hell go to have breakfast with Elizabeth. （ D） Hell telephone his uncle. （ A） Sought after by too many people. （ B） Too difficult for young people. （ C） For ambitious people only
37、. （ D） For young people only. （ A） Collect tickets. （ B） Take care of the managers dress. （ C） Play all kinds of parts. （ D） Help advertise their plays. （ A） The most famous actress of the world. （ B） Playing the leading female role in a film. （ C） As famous as the greatest actor of the world. （ D）
38、No less famous than the leading actor of the day. （ A） 3. （ B） 4. （ C） 5 （ D） 6 （ A） Because his father has suddenly had a heart attack. （ B） Because his wife has been behaving strangely. （ C） Bemuse his mother is still unhappy about his fathers death. （ D） Because his daughter is all alone in a ver
39、y big apartment by the sea. （ A） They moved in a cottage by the sea. （ B） They lived in a cottage by the river. （ C） They went to see their friends abroad. （ D） They got annoyed with each other. （ A） Only two years after his retirement. （ B） Only three years after his retirement. （ C） Only one year
40、after his retirement. （ D） Only four years after his retirement. （ A） The cottage is too big for her. （ B） She is not rich enough to pay all the bills. （ C） She gets annoyed with David. （ D） No family is near her. （ A） One needs to be careful with his goals. （ B） Sleepwalkers lack goals for success.
41、 （ C） Success is impossible without a goal. （ D） Ones goal in life is difficult to find. （ A） Acquiring a true sense of responsibility. （ B） Focusing on the desire to fulfill. （ C） Getting ready for the worst. （ D） Imagining objects to obtain and process. （ A） Because he was thought to be aware of c
42、ountless plane crashes. （ B） Because he was believed to have liked bus-reading. （ C） Because he was thought to be nervous about flying. （ D） Because he was believed not to be able to pilot a plane. （ A） It is essential to be positive about ones goal. （ B） It is important to score goals in life. （ C）
43、 It is essential to try to be a good loser. （ D） It is not important to keep ones goal in mind. Section B Directions: In this section, you will hear 3 short passages. At the end of each passage, you will hear some questions. Both the passage and the questions will be spoken only once. After you hear
44、 a question, you must choose the best answer from the four choices marked A, B, C and D. （ A） They used horses to surround wild animals. （ B） They rubbed sticks together to make fire. （ C） They hunted wolves as food. （ D） They utilized their natural surroundings. （ A） To terrify the antelope. （ B） T
45、o locate antelope. （ C） To shoot the antelope. （ D） To surround the antelope. （ A） In America. （ B） In England. （ C） In France. （ D） In Spain. （ A） Everybody is expected to buy gifts for their friends. （ B） Nobody gets off work or school on April Fools Day. （ C） People are invited to dinner on April
46、 Fools Day. （ D） Each country celebrates April Fools Day in the same way. （ A） By calling them fools. （ B） By writing them jokes. （ C） By sending them ridiculous cards. （ D） By taping a paper fish to their friends backs. （ A） In the morning. （ B） In the afternoon. （ C） In the evening. （ D） The whole
47、 day. Section C Directions: In this section, you will hear a passage three times. When the passage is read for the first time, you should listen carefully for its general idea. When the passage is read for the second time, you are required to fill in the blanks numbered from 36 to 43 with the exact
48、words you have just heard. For blanks numbered from 44 to 46 you are required to fill in the missing information. For these blanks, you can either use the exact words you have just heard or write down the 40 For most people, life is easier and more 【 B1】 _ than ever before. Convenience foods from th
49、e 【 B2】 _ simplify shopping and cooking. Household 【 B3】 _ like the vacuum cleaner and the washing 【 B4】 _ have taken the drudgery out of housework. Released from these 【 B5】 _ chores, many wives have found jobs outside the home. Women are achieving 【 B6】 _ independence. Families, too, are simpler today. In America, it is not 【 B7】 _ for parents to live with their 【 B8】 _ children. With our greater mobility, 【 B9】 _ . after they m
