1、大学英语四级模拟试卷 291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 entitled Traffic Problems in Big Cities in three paragraphs. For the first two paragraphs, the first sentence is given and you may just write on to complete them. As to the remainin
2、g part, you are required to work out a topic sentence and develop it into a well organized paragraph and your composition should end with the concluding statement given below (Sentence 3). 1. Traffic is one of the essential activities for people in big cities. 2. Owing to the major part it plays, tr
3、affic has long been a serious concern for the local governments. 3. Only when these problems are effectively solved, will a major city be able to survive the nationwide competition and function as an economic center. 二、 Part II Reading Comprehension (Skimming and Scanning) (15 minutes) Directions: I
4、n 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 given in the passage; N (for NO) if the statement contradicts the information given in the passage;
5、 NG (for NOT GIVEN) if the information is not given in the passage. 1 What is a Port City? The port city provides a fascinating and rich understanding of the movement of people and goods around the world. We understand a port as a centre of land-sea exchange, and so a major source of livelihood and
6、a major force for cultural mixing. But do ports all produce a range of common urban characteristics which justify classifying port cities together under a single generic label? Do they have enough in common to warrant distinguishing them from other kinds of cities? A port must be distinguished from
7、a harbor. They are two very different things. Most ports have poor harbors, and many fine harbors see few ships. Harbor is a physical concept, a shelter for ships; port is an economic concept, a centre of land-sea exchange which requires good access to a hinterland even more than a sealinked forelan
8、d, it is landward access, which is productive of goods for export and which demands imports, that is critical. Poor harbors can be improved with breakwaters and dredging if there is a demand for a port. Madras and Colombo are examples of harbors expensively improved by enlarging, dredging and buildi
9、ng breakwaters. Port cities become industrial, financial and service centers and political capitals because of their water connections and the urban concentration which arises there and later draws to it railways, highways and air routes. Water transport means cheap access, the chief basis of all po
10、rt cities. Many of the worlds biggest cities, for example, London, New York, Shanghai, Istanbul, Buenos Aires, Tokyo, Jakarta, Calcutta, Philadelphia and San Francisco began as ports-that is, with land-sea exchange as their major function, but they have since grown disproportionately in other respec
11、ts so that their port functions are no longer dominant. They remain different kinds of places from non-port cities and their port functions account for that difference. Port functions, more than anything else, make a city cosmopolitan. A port city is open to the world. In its races, cultures, and id
12、eas, as well as goods from a variety of places, jostle, mix and enrich each other and the lire of the city. The smell of the sea and the harbor, the sound of boat whistles or the moving tides are symbols of their multiple links with a wide world, samples of which are present in microcosm within thei
13、r own urban areas. Sea ports have been transformed by the advent of powered vessels, whose size and draught have increased. Many formerly important ports have become economically and physically less accessible as a result. By-passed by most of their former enriching flow of exchange, they have becom
14、e cultural and economic backwaters or have acquired the character of museums of the past. Examples of these are Charleston, Salem, Bristol, Plymouth, Surat, Gallo, Melaka, Suzhou chow, and a long list of earlier prominent port cities in Southeast Asia, Africa and Latin America. Much domestic port tr
15、ade has not been recorded. What evidence we have suggested that domestic trade was greater at all periods than external trade. Shanghai, for example, did most of its trade with other Chinese ports and inland cities. Calcutta traded mainly with other parts of India and so on. Most of any citys popula
16、tion is engaged in providing goods and services for the city itself. Trade outside the city is its basic function. But each basic worker requires food housing, clothing and other such services. Estimates of the ratio of basic to service workers range from 1: 4 to 1: 8. No city can be simply a port b
17、ut must be involved in a variety of other activities. The port function of the city draws to it raw materials and distributes them in many other forms. Ports take advantage of the need for breaking up the bulk material where water and land transport meet and where loading and unloading costs can be
18、minimized by refining raw materials or turning them into finished goods. The major examples here are oil refining and ore refining, which are commonly located at ports. It is not easy to draw a line around what is and is not a port function. All ports handle, unload, sort, alter, process, repack, an
19、d reship most of what they receive. A city may still be regarded as a port city when it becomes involved in a great range of functions not immediately involved with ships or docks. Cities which began as ports retain the chief commercial and administrative centre of the city close to the waterfront.
20、The centre of New York is in lower Manhattan between two river mouths, the City of London is on the Thames, Shanghai is along the Bund. This proximity to water is also true of Boston, Philadelphia, Bombay, Calcutta, Madras, Singapore, Bangkok, Hong Kong and Yokohama, where the commercial, financial,
21、 and administrative centers are still grouped around their harbors even though each city has expanded into a metropolis. Even a casual visitor cannot mistake them as anything but port cities. 2 Cities cease to be port cities when other functions dominate. （ A） Y （ B） N （ C） NG 3 In the past, many ci
22、ties did more trade within their own country than with overseas ports. （ A） Y （ B） N （ C） NG 4 Most people in a port city are engaged in international trade and finance. （ A） Y （ B） N （ C） NG 5 Ports attract many subsidiary and independent industries. （ A） Y （ B） N （ C） NG 6 Ports have to establish
23、a common language of trade. （ A） Y （ B） N （ C） NG 7 Ports often have river connections. （ A） Y （ B） N （ C） NG 8 Madras and Colombo required considerable harbor development. （ A） Y （ B） N （ C） NG 9 _ began as ports but other facilities later dominated. 10 _ lost their prominence when large ships coul
24、d not be accomodated. 11 Singapore and Yokohama maintain their business centres near the _. 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 conversa
25、tion and the questions will be spoken only once. After each question there will be a pause. During the pause, you must read the four choices marked A, B, C and D, and decide which is the best answer. （ A） Lucy is often concerned about things. （ B） Lucy has a positive outlook. （ C） Lucy needs to buil
26、d up her self-image. （ D） Lucy is successful in school. （ A） She will not say what the boss will do. （ B） Dont tell the boss the bad news. （ C） The boss will not do anything. （ D） She doesnt know what he will do. （ A） She wants him to stay longer. （ B） She knows he must go soon. （ C） She wishes he h
27、ad left sooner. （ D） She wants him to go now. （ A） In a post office. （ B） In a department store. （ C） At a bank. （ D） In a grocery store. （ A） He wants to wait until the class is full. （ B） He wants to take the class if someone drops it. （ C） He will wait for the professor. （ D） He is late and there
28、 are no more chairs. （ A） When does the reception desk close? （ B） When is the dining room open? （ C） When must we leave the hotel? （ D） When will the room be cleaned? （ A） He should go first and she will catch up to him later. （ B） She will drink coffee and the do her work. （ C） She will do her wor
29、k at the coffee house. （ D） She will do her work instead of having coffee. （ A） A room with a balcony. （ B） A room and transportation. （ C） A room with two beds. （ D） A room and meals. （ A） How to apply new technology to solving the pollution problem. （ B） How to realize the serious environmental pr
30、oblems around us. （ C） What are the bacteria that can eat petroleum and gasoline. （ D） Chinese should take more measures to improve the natural environment. （ A） Bacteria can help control some pollution problems. （ B） Bacteria can eat gasoline in the sea. （ C） Bacteria can excrete (排泄 ) hydrogen and
31、 oxygen. （ D） He thought bacteria just caused illness. （ A） Bacteria that we used to worry about may help to solve the environmental problems. （ B） Bacteria will either destroy or build the natural world. （ C） Human beings can control the nature without the help of bacteria. （ D） People should be mo
32、re aware of the environmental problems. （ A） The silk T-shirt in white colour. （ B） The cotton T-shirt with a slogan or picture. （ C） The nylon T-shirt worn on playground. （ D） The wool T-shirt worn for work. （ A） T-shirts feel soft and wash well. （ B） T-shirts are smart and comfortable. （ C） T-shir
33、ts go well with trousers. （ D） T-shirts are suitable for evening wear. （ A） New designs are being adopted. （ B） Advertisements are being widely used. （ C） New technology is being employed. （ D） More synthetic materials are being introduced. （ A） He lost consciousness. （ B） He was slightly wounded. （
34、 C） He was seriously injured. （ D） He was buried under an icebox. （ A） Teacher and student. （ B） Clerk and customer in the post office. （ C） Clerk and customer in the supermarket. （ D） Clerk and customer in the bank. （ A） Open an account. （ B） Post some parcels. （ C） Transfer money. （ D） Exchange mo
35、ney. （ A） Payment order will take fewer days than telegraphic transfer. （ B） Payment order will take more days than telegraphic transfer. （ C） Payment order will only apply to urgent business. （ D） Telegraphic transfer takes less money comparing with payment order. （ A） Three hundred pounds through
36、payment order. （ B） 1.5 pounds through payment order. （ C） 450 U.S. dollars through payment order. （ D） 450 U.S. dollars through telegraphic transfer. 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
37、 the questions will be spoken only once. After you hear a question, you must choose the best answer from the four choices marked A, B, C and D. （ A） Because he didnt understand French. （ B） Because he didnt believe what William said. （ C） Because he couldnt understand a word of English. （ D） Because
38、 he hated English-speaking people. （ A） Where there is a will, there is a way. （ B） A good turn deserves another. （ C） The murder will out. （ D） No pains, no gains. （ A） A writer. （ B） An artist. （ C） A designer. （ D） An architect. （ A） In the afternoon. （ B） In the evening. （ C） At midnight. （ D） I
39、n the morning. （ A） To relax himself. （ B） To keep up with whats happening in the design world. （ C） To meet some important people in the design world. （ D） To discuss his new ideas with producers. （ A） difficult and encouraging. （ B） exciting and frustrating. （ C） stressful and difficult. （ D） leis
40、urely and rewarding. 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
41、with the exact 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 36 In the past few years, hundreds of magazines and newspaper stories have been
42、written about Bill Gates and his company, the reason the Microsoft Company is extremely【 B1】 _. It has made Bill Gates one of the richest men in the world. William Gates the third was born in 1955, in a western city of Seattle, Washington. He became【 B2】 _in computers when he was 13 years old. When
43、most young boys at his age were playing baseball or football, young Bill Gates was learning to write computer【 B3】 _ These programs tell computers how to【 B4】 _useful tasks. Bill Gates【 B5】 _Harvard University after high school. At Harvard, he began developing the computer language called【 B6】 _. He
44、 began to think that the computer would someday become a _ tool that could be used in every office and home. Bill Gates returned to Seattle where he【 B8】 _the Microsoft Company in 1975. It employed only three workers. Microsoft developed computer software for established American companies, like Gen
45、eral Electric and Citibank. Soon,【 B9】_ In 1981, IBM began selling a personal computer that used Microsoft products as part of its operating system. So do many other computer companies. 【 B10】 _Windows makes it much easier to use a computer. Company officials say Microsoft has sold about 40,000,000
46、copies of the Windows program around the world. Microsoft does thousands of millions of dollars in business each year. It now has more than 16,000 workers in more than 48 countries. 【 B11】 _. 37 【 B1】 38 【 B2】 39 【 B3】 40 【 B4】 41 【 B5】 42 【 B6】 43 【 B7】 44 【 B8】 45 【 B9】 46 【 B10】 47 【 B11】 Section
47、 A Directions: In this section, there is a passage with ten blanks. You are required to select one word for each blank from a list of choices given in a word bank following the passage. Read the passage through carefully before making your choices. Each choice in the bank is identified by a letter.
48、Please mark the corresponding letter for each item with a single line through the center. You may not use any of the words in the bank more than once. 47 Today many people who live in large【 S1】 _areas such as Paris and New York leave the city in the summer. They go to the mountains or to the seasho
49、re to【 S2】_the city noise and heat. Over 2,000 years ago, many rich Romans did the same thing. They left the city of Rome in the summer. Many of these wealthy Romans spent their summers in the city of Pompeii. Pompeii was a beautiful city, it was【 S3】_on the ocean, on the Bay of Naples. In the year 79 BC, a young Roman boy who later became a very famous Roman historian was visiting his uncle in Pompeii. The boys mane was Pliny the Younger. One day Pliny was【 S
