1、大学英语四级模拟试卷 443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 Should Electricity in the Dormitory Be Cut Off after Midnight? You should write at least 120 words following the outline given below. 1. 许多学校午夜后就把宿舍的电断掉，强制学生休息 2有人认为这对学生白天的
2、学习有益，有人认为这限制了学生自由安排生活 3你的看法 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
3、information given 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 Having Kids Makes You Happy? When I was growing up, our former neighbors, whom well call the Sloans, were the only coup
4、le on the block without kids. It wasnt that they couldnt have children; according to Mr.Sloan, they just chose not to. All the other parents, including mine, thought it was odd-even tragic. So any bad luck that happened to the Sloans-the egging of their house one Halloween; the landslide(山崩 ) that s
5、ent their pool careering to the street below-was somehow attributed to that fateful decision theyd made so many years before. “Well,“ the other adults would say, “you know they never did have kids.“ Each time I visited the Sloans, Id search for signs of insanity, misery or even regret in their super
6、 clean home, yet I never seemed to find any. From what I could tell, the Sloans were happy, maybe even happier than my parents, despite the fact that they were childless. My impressions may have been swayed by the fact that their candy dish was always full, but several studies now show that the Sloa
7、ns could well have been more satisfied than most of the traditional families around them. In Daniel Gilberts 2006 book Stumbling on Happiness, the Harvard professor of psychology looks at several studies and concludes that marital satisfaction decreases dramatically after the birth of the first chil
8、d-and increases only when the last child has left home. He also finds out that parents are happier grocery shopping and even sleeping than spending time with their kids. Other data cited by 2008s Gross National Happiness author, Arthur C. Brooks, finds that parents are about 7 percentage points less
9、 likely to report being happy than the childless. The most recent comprehensive study on the emotional state of those with kids shows us that the term “bundle of joy“ may not be the most accurate way to describe our offspring. “Parents experience lower levels of emotional well-being, less frequent p
10、ositive emotions and more frequent negative emotions than their childless peers,“ says Florida State Universitys Robin Simon. “In fact, no group of parents-married, single, step or even empty-nest-reported significantly greater emotional well-being than people who never had children. Its such an une
11、xpected finding because we have these cultural beliefs that children are the key to happiness and a healthy life,and theyre not.“ Simon received plenty of hate mail in response to her research, which isnt surprising. Her findings shake the very foundation of what weve been raised to believe is true.
12、 In a recent Newsweek Poll, 50 percent of Americans said that adding new children to the family tends to increase happiness levels. Only one in six (16 percent) said that adding new children had a negative effect on the parents happiness. But which parent is willing to admit that the greatest gift l
13、ife has to offer has in fact made his or her life less enjoyable? Parents may openly complain their lack of sleep, busy schedules and difficulty in dealing with their bad-tempered teens, but rarely will they cop to feeling depressed due to the everyday rigors of child rearing. “If you admit that kid
14、s and parenthood arent making you happy, its basically blasphemy(亵读 ),“ says Jen Singer, a stay-at-home mother of two from New Jersey who runs the popular parenting blog MommaS. “From baby-cream commercials that make motherhood look happy and well rested, to commercials for Disney World where youre
15、supposed to feel like a kid because youre there with your kids, weve made parenthood out to be one extremely happy moment after another, and its disappointing when you find out its not.“ Is it possible that American parents have always been this disillusioned? Anecdotal(轶事的 ) evidence says no. In pr
16、e-industrial America, parents certainly loved their children, but their offspring also served a purpose-to work the farm, contribute to the household. Children were a necessity. Today, we have kids more for emotional reasons, but an increasingly complicated work and social environment has made findi
17、ng satisfaction far more difficult. A key study by University of Wisconsin-Madisons Sara McLanahan and Julia Adams, conducted some 20 years ago, found that parenthood was perceived as significantly more stressful in the 1970s than in the 1950s; the researchers attribute part of that change to major
18、shifts in employment patterns. The majority of American parents now work outside the home, have less support from extended family and face a worsening education and health-care system, so raising children has not only become more complicated-it has become more expensive. Today the U.S. Department of
19、 Agriculture estimates that it costs anywhere from $134,370 to $237,520 to raise a child from birth to the age of 17-and thats not counting school or college tuition. No wonder parents are feeling a little blue. Societal ills aside, perhaps we also expect too much from the promise of parenting. The
20、National Marriage Projects 2006 “State of Our Unions“ report says that parents have significantly lower marital satisfaction than non-parents because they experienced more single and child-free years than previous generations. Twenty-five years ago, women married around the age of 20, and men at 23.
21、 Today both sexes are marrying four to five years later. This means the experience of raising kids is now competing with highs in a parents past, like career wins or a earefree social life. Sending bad-tempered kids to school or dashing to work with spit-up on your favorite sweater doesnt turn out t
22、o be romantic. For the childless, all this research must certainly feel redeeming(弥补的 ). As for those of us with kids, well, the news isnt all bad. Parents still report feeling a greater sense of purpose and meaning in their lives than those whove never had kids. And there are other rewarding aspect
23、s of parenting that are impossible to quantify. For example, I never thought it possible to love someone as deeply as I love my son. As for the Sloans, its hard to say whether they had a less meaningful existence than my parents, or if my parents were 7 percent less happy than the Sloans. Perhaps it
24、 just comes down to how you see the candy dish-half empty or half full. Or at least as a parent, thats what Ill keep telling myself. 2 Why were the Sloans childless? （ A） They couldnt afford to bring up a child. （ B） They decided not to have a child. （ C） They were infertile. （ D） Lots of bad luck h
25、appened to them. 3 What did the author expect to find in the Sloans home? （ A） Signs showing they were miserable. （ B） Satisfaction of being childless. （ C） Candy dish that was always full. （ D） A super clean home. 4 According to Daniel Gilbert, after the last child has left home,_. （ A） parents ten
26、d to be happier （ B） parents satisfaction is likely to decrease （ C） parents are as happy as they had their first child （ D） parents are more eager to spend time with their kids 5 What are our cultural beliefs? （ A） Single parent is generally less happy. （ B） Couples are unhappy with kids. （ C） Its
27、a tradition for couples to have kids. （ D） Having kids makes parents happy. 6 According to the Newsweek Poll,_. （ A） Robin Simons finding was too surprising to believe （ B） no parents admitted having a child made their life less enjoyable （ C） half Americans agreed adding a child has a positive effe
28、ct on happiness levels （ D） 16% of Americans said having a child was harmful to parents relationship 7 The baby-cream commercials is taken as an example to show_. （ A） mothers need to rest （ B） enjoyable parenthood （ C） happy moments with kids （ D） mothers disappointment 8 Parenthood became more str
29、essful in the 1970s partly due to_. （ A） high expense in education （ B） more working mothers （ C） changes in employment patterns （ D） worsening social welfare 9 Besides societal ills that lower parents satisfaction, the promise of parenting is also_. 10 Now highs in a parents past is being fought by
30、_. 11 Despite the low happiness level, compared with the childless, parents feel a greater sense of_. 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 th
31、e conversation 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） The area is for passengers only. （ B） The man is asking the woman to leave. （ C） The
32、man feels sorry for the woman. （ D） The woman is a member of the staff. （ A） He is late for his work on the first day. （ B） It takes a long time for him to go to work. （ C） He is very excited for driving to work. （ D） He drove to make sure the time to get to work. （ A） It is pleasant. （ B） It is con
33、stant. （ C） It is always windy. （ D） It is changeable. （ A） The man thought the paper was easy. （ B） They both had a hard time writing the paper. （ C） The woman thought the assignment was easy. （ D） Neither of them has finished the paper yet. （ A） He hasnt decided what to do this weekend. （ B） He wi
34、ll spend the weekend with his sister. （ C） He thinks everything is all right up till now. （ D） He has already decided to travel abroad by air. （ A） He feels satisfied with it. （ B） He thinks the distance is too far. （ C） The road is good but theres heavy traffic. （ D） 30 minutes driving is a piece o
35、f cake for him. （ A） He thinks the students are quite fair. （ B） He thinks the new teacher is good. （ C） Reactions to the new teacher are different. （ D） The woman should believe what is told. （ A） Spend more time outdoors. （ B） Take short naps in day time. （ C） Try to go to bed earlier. （ D） Stay i
36、ndoors until she feels better. 20 How does the man think about poetry? （ A） Flowery words are the most shining point of poetry. （ B） Flowery words arent an absolute necessity for poetry. （ C） One can write poems easily after he has read much. （ D） He prefers a long novel to a short poem. 21 Accordin
37、g to the conversation,what do we learn about Billy Collins? （ A） He has more readers than other poets. （ B） He uses refined words in his poems. （ C） His poems express deep thoughts. （ D） His poems are interesting and excellent. 22 What trouble did the man ever have in writing a poem? （ A） Finding ou
38、t a rhymed word with panda. （ B） Bringing the poem about panda to an end. （ C） Adding the name “Amanda“ into a poem. （ D） Replacing panda with another word. 23 What does the woman mainly talk about? （ A） Recycling and its benefits. （ B） The group she belongs to. （ C） Her belief on environmental prot
39、ection. （ D） The project her group is involved in. 24 What is the goal of the womans group? （ A） To get funding from the citys recycling center. （ B） To raise peoples awareness of recycling. （ C） To force the government to change its actions on plant funding. （ D） To prevent the government from fund
40、ing the main plant. 25 What form of protest did the RRR use? （ A） Writing an article in the newspapers. （ B） Dumping garbage on the city lawn. （ C） Publishing an editorial to show disapproval. （ D） Organizing several strikes in the streets. 26 What is the main purpose of the mans visit this year? （
41、A） To spend a holiday and see friends. （ B） To attend the Arts Festival. （ C） To visit the exhibition of cellos. （ D） To give private cello lessons. 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 t
42、he 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. 27 What do the American doctors say about babies? （ A） Babies begin to learn at 5 or 6 months old. （ B） Babies begin to learn when theyre born. （ C） Babies do
43、nt like to be taught by strangers. （ D） Babies always want to learn new things. 28 What is the purpose of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development? （ A） To help all the weak children and women. （ B） To study the genes of babies and mothers. （ C） To find out what affects healthy d
44、evelopment in people. （ D） To study why babies are influenced by their environment. 29 What will a baby do if her mother does something she likes? （ A） She will clap. （ B） She will blink. （ C） She will smile. （ D） She will imitate her mother. 30 According to the speaker,what did the Dutch researcher
45、s find out? （ A） Unborn babies can remember sounds. （ B） Unborn babies learn how to smile. （ C） Unborn babies can learn to connect with people. （ D） Unborn babies are active to learn things. 31 What do we learn about the 60 per cent of men who were questioned? （ A） They didnt like to do housework. （
46、 B） Their efforts were unnoticed by the woman. （ C） They were very tired after a whole days work. （ D） They wanted to share the housework with women. 32 What was the second most popular housework among men? （ A） Cleaning the washroom. （ B） Carring shopping bags. （ C） Taking out the rubbish. （ D） Cha
47、nging the bed sheets. 33 In what way can caffeine benefit ones health according to the speaker? （ A） It improves ones brain function. （ B） It increases ones blood flow. （ C） It cleans the water of the bodys ceils. （ D） It keeps one away from depression. 34 Why does the electric car seem to be the be
48、st alternative so far? （ A） It is comfortable. （ B） It is best made. （ C） It causes no pollution. （ D） It makes less noise. 35 What is the big problem with an electric car? （ A） Its battery is not powerful enough. （ B） Its battery is of enormous size. （ C） It costs too much money. （ D） It breaks dow
49、n easily. 36 What are the automobile engineers trying to do? （ A） Improve the batteries of electric cars. （ B） Increase the number of electric cars. （ C） Design a new device for electric cars. （ D） Look for new ways to improve safety. 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 ar
