1、大学英语四级模拟试卷 673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 How to Face Frustration by commenting on the famous saying, “ Our greatest glory consists not in falling, but in rising every time we fall. “ You should write at least 120
2、words but no more than 180 words. How to Face Frustration 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
3、the statement agrees with the 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 Is Higher Education a Bubble? My colleague at Democracy in America draws attention to an
4、ongoing debate over the nature of higher education, and, in particular, steady increases in the cost of getting one. The question of the hour is: is higher education a bubble? Consider: If you can only afford to go to a state university, dont be too annoyed. Except this: Kevin Drum went to a state u
5、niversity that does not exist anymore. When he graduated from Cal State Long Beach in 1981, he paid $ 160 in fees. If he graduated from the same institution today, the tuition he would have paid for this year would be $4,335. They officially call it “tuition“ now, because its not meant to be a nomin
6、al (名义上的 ) “fee“ anymore. Its simply the price you pay for your education, as a customer, and next year it will be higher, a lot higher. Unless the direction of things changes soon, it will be $ 6,450. And the year after that? It will be even higher. Fees/ Tuition in the California State system have
7、 risen significantly every year since when Kevin Drum went there, and they have risen by around 400% since 2002. Given the complete intransigence (不妥协 ) of California republicans, tuition will most likely rise by another 32% next year. A diploma is a kind of investment. It is a guarantor of higher l
8、ifetime earnings: The “college wage premium“ for highly educated workers is in the tens of thousands of dollars per year. It is also an insurance policy against unemployment, a signaling device to employers and peers, a prestige line for your resume or New York Times wedding announcement, and a plac
9、e to make friends and connections. Most importantly, it is a way to learn new skills and information. It could be that college students are overpaying for their educations. But it seems more likely that some college students attending certain types of schools are overpaying. If you want to be an aer
10、ospace engineer and have the chops to get into Caltech, the quality of the education, contacts, and fellow students on offer might really be worth $ 200,000 to you. A diploma from the school practically guarantees a good salary. Its much harder to talk about a bubble in education than it was one in
11、housing. In housing, there was a clear metric: prices, in absolute terms and as a ratio of just about everything, were soaring. And there was a clear debate: are these increases justified by some real economic shift or are they a bubble associated with new mortgage products and loose credit. In high
12、er education, the questions are much more difficult. For one thing, its hard to agree on what price should be the focus. Advertised topline tuition? Few people pay that. Average tuition paid? Average student loan debt? Is the bubble in higher education present at all universities, or just top univer
13、sities, or just for-profit universities? And how is whatever rising price that is the focus connected to changes in the benefits of a higher education? Indeed, what are those benefits? The ultimate benefit seems to be a substantial wage premium, and comparisons of that premium to average levels of t
14、uition or incurred debt make college look like an incredibly good deal. The tricky thing is that there may well be an identification problem: it could simply be the case that students who go to college earn more, because the types of students that go to college are the types that have characteristic
15、s (intelligence, discipline) that translate into higher earnings. University degrees could simply be expensive signaling mechanisms at best, in this world, and massively wasteful cultural institutions at worst. Because we cant select high school seniors at random, send some to universities and some
16、into the workforce, and see what happens, were going to be limited in what we can say about the extent to which this is true. But let me tell you how I think about this. I think the gains from higher education are mostly, though not at all entirely, about actual learning, though I should say that a
17、healthy portion of these learning gains arent academic in nature, but have to do with things like social capital. Given the cost of higher education, it seems unlikely that signaling can be the main value of a college degree. There are so many other available means to accomplish the same thing. Why
18、wouldnt an employer be as happy with a set of scores on the SAT and GRE and a letter of acceptance from Harvard? The potential market for a cheaper means to signal worth and to network seems so large that its absence is just very difficult to explain. There are highly successful firms that do opt to
19、 recruit large numbers of skilled young people away from universities and toward an early professional career: Americas professional sports teams. Why havent other companies followed suit? If college doesnt teach anything, how can we explain this enormous market failure? One potential explanation is
20、 that there are multiple balances and at present we are stuck in a bad one. So long as the vast majority of talented youths get traditional college educations, it is too risky and costly for young people to defect from the higher-education strategy. Defection could, indeed, signal a lack of professi
21、onal fitness. But this is a very vulnerable equilibrium (平衡 ). If even a small number of those students accepted to top universities opt instead to strike out on their own, the bad record of missing out on college could quickly erode. One can even imagine a young student leaving to pursue an entrepr
22、eneurial vision directly targeted at potential college dropouts setting up support networks, alternative signaling mechanisms, and so on. But why hasnt this already happened? My guess is that most people, including parents, students, and employers, consider a university education to be a good value.
23、 The full set of returns to the investment signaling and networking, yes, but also the actual investments in intellectual and social capital justifies the sticker price, and certainly the $20,000 or so in average student loan debt. What would we look for in a higher education bubble? College educati
24、ons have long been incredibly cheap given the (apparent) long-run benefit to the degree-holder. Students today are now paying for a larger share of the benefit they receive. And in some cases, universities appear to be getting better at gaining some of the surplus created by degree completion. Is th
25、is problematic? There is a positive societal effect to higher education, and so students (many of them anyway) should continue to receive some subsidy. And it is in societys interest to ensure that deserving poor students have the same opportunities as richer ones. But broadly speaking, I dont know
26、if we can say that higher education has gotten too expensive or has become a bubble. 2 Which problem draws special attention of current debate? （ A） The nature of higher education debate. （ B） The rise of higher education cost. （ C） The steady decrease of college students. （ D） The significance of h
27、igher education. 3 What is the most important function of a diploma? （ A） An insurance policy against unemployment. （ B） A signaling device to employers and peers. （ C） A way to learn new skills and information. （ D） A place to make friends and connections. 4 College students going to certain types
28、of schools seem to_. （ A） become aerospace engineers （ B） pay much tuition than it is worth （ C） accept high-quality education （ D） receive better salary than others 5 What does the author say about the bubble in education? （ A） There is a clear metric to show the prices are soaring. （ B） The tuitio
29、n increases are justified by higher salary. （ C） It relates to new mortgage products and loose credit. （ D） It involves more difficult questions than one in housing. 6 Why will students receiving college education earn more? （ A） Because they have features that can turn into high income. （ B） Becaus
30、e their teachers can introduce better jobs for them. （ C） Because they pay a lot of tuition for best teachers. （ D） Because they have diploma assurance through actual learning. 7 In authors opinion, what can we get mostly from higher education? （ A） High-salary guarantee. （ B） Academic achievement.
31、（ C） Actual learning. （ D） High score on SAT and GRE. 8 Why do most people think it is risky for young people to drop higher education? （ A） Because it is hard for them to strike out on their own. （ B） Because the bad record of missing college will last forever. （ C） Because college is a tradition t
32、hat cannot be overturned. （ D） Because the defection signals a lack of professional fitness. 9 Most people support university education for they believe it is an actual investment in_ 10 In some occasions, universities seem to gain more surplus from_. 11 It is in the interest of society to ensure th
33、at some qualified poor students enjoy the same chances as_. 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 s
34、poken 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） How to hold weights firmly. （ B） When to exercise arms. （ C） Way to do push-ups. （ D） How to do some exercises. （ A） She plans
35、the wedding until the last minutes. （ B） She hasnt got a wedding dress yet. （ C） She has just started organizing the wedding. （ D） She has got everything ready. （ A） Make a call to David at once. （ B） Have argument with close friends. （ C） Dont be mad with David. （ D） Go to make peace with David. （
36、A） Buy plenty of food and snacks. （ B） Attend a party at Elenas home. （ C） Have some fun with Elenas neighbors. （ D） Make some noise at Elenas neighbors house. （ A） Get some service from an ATM. （ B） Buy something from a vending machine. （ C） Buy the machine that she is using. （ D） Withdraw some mon
37、ey for the man. （ A） People could send money in post offices years ago. （ B） People cant send mails in post offices now. （ C） Post offices are offering more and more service. （ D） Post offices have become banks. （ A） The rising price structure should be controlled. （ B） Raw material costs more than
38、labors high wages. （ C） The economic news always doesnt look good. （ D） Production should be increased to cut the costs. （ A） The traditional communication is fast and convenient. （ B） The traditional communication will disappear. （ C） The telecommunication will have the upper hand. （ D） The cellpho
39、ne will take the place of letters. （ A） He has joined the Students Counsel. （ B） He was too busy to grasp this big chance. （ C） He has been studying hard for scholarships. （ D） He thought it would take him much time. （ A） He wants to do something special there. （ B） He likes the activities in the cl
40、ub. （ C） It will be helpful for his job-hunting. （ D） It often holds speeches and competitions. （ A） The man will join the Olympic Volunteers League. （ B） The woman wants to practice her English. （ C） The woman hopes to become a translator. （ D） The man cooperates well with his group members. （ A） I
41、ts not right to buy illegal copies. （ B） Illegal copies cost too much. （ C） It sounds too critical to buy them. （ D） Their prices will go down soon. （ A） They cost too much compared with illegal ones. （ B） They should remain the price at the current level. （ C） It sounds more reasonable to buy origi
42、nal DVDs. （ D） They are all digital copies compared with illegal ones. （ A） She really prefers to buy a whole CD. （ B） She can download free single songs online. （ C） She doesnt go online to download music. （ D） She can cheaply buy legal copies online. （ A） Their quality is pretty terrible. （ B） The
43、y can be well enjoyed. （ C） The dialogues in them can be heard clearly. （ D） The audio of them is not so poor. 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.
44、 After you hear a question, you must choose the best answer from the four choices marked A, B, C and D. （ A） Worse than they really are. （ B） Better than they really are. （ C） More competent but less confident. （ D） Worse than men in everything. （ A） They think highly of themselves. （ B） They are le
45、ss competent than men. （ C） They lack self-confidence compared with men. （ D） They are discriminated in their companies. （ A） Be confined to entry-level jobs. （ B） Receive a lower pay than they should. （ C） Be advanced more quickly. （ D） Gain less working experience. （ A） They hide their emotions to
46、 others. （ B） They are puzzled by women. （ C） They share too much with others. （ D） They complain about others. （ A） Men tend to think less of their partners. （ B） They were brought up in different ways. （ C） Women are more emotional than men. （ D） They have different thinking styles. （ A） To make o
47、thers annoyed intentionally. （ B） To appear calm and firm in front of others. （ C） To avoid some unhappiness with friends. （ D） To protect partners or important others. （ A） Dirty water. （ B） Medicine. （ C） Insects. （ D） Rotten fruits. （ A） Hit the person on the back five times. （ B） Push the person
48、s legs hard five times. （ C） Hit the body against a chair. （ D） Put the persons closed hands back. （ A） Wounds are difficult to heal without covering. （ B） Cleaning the cut can help the cure of wounds. （ C） Bacteria can enter the body through the cut. （ D） Bandaging the cut makes people feel relieve
49、d. （ A） He can teach a lesson. （ B） He can avoid danger. （ C） He can detect emergency. （ D） He can provide more help. 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 words you have just heard. For blanks numbered from 44 to 46 you are required to fill in the missi
