1、大学英语四级模拟试卷 937及答案与解析 一、 Part I Writing (30 minutes) 1 For this part, you are allowed thirty minutes to write a composition on the topic A Boom in Adult Education. You should write at least 120 following the outline given below in Chinese 1图中所示为某城市 1990、 1995、 2000、 2005年参加成人教育的人数情况，请描述其变化。 2请说明发生这些变
2、化的原因 (可从社会发展及竞争力方面加以说明 )。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 inf
3、ormation 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. 2 Learning a language When Do We Learn a Language? Children begin learning languages at birth(infants pay attention to their
4、 parents voices, as opposed to random noises or even other languages), and havent really mastered the subtleties before the age of ten years. Indeed, we never really stop learning our language. This isnt exactly the sort of behavior(like foals walking an hour after birth) that we call “instinct“ in
5、animals. Do We Learn When We Dont Have to? But at least its effortless, isnt it? Well, no, as we can see when children have a choice of languages to learn. Whats found is that, to be frank, children dont learn a language if they can get away with not learning it. Many an immigrant family in the U.S.
6、 intends to teach their child their native language; and for the first few years it goes swimmingly so much so that the parents worry that the child wont learn English. Then the child goes to school, picks up English, and within a few years the worry is reversed: the child still understands his pare
7、nts, but responds in English. Eventually the parents may give up, and the home language becomes English. Peoples Influence A child is likely to end up as a fluent speaker of a language only if there are significant people in her life who speak it: a nanny who only speaks Spanish, a relative who does
8、nt speak English, etc. Once a child discovers that his parents understand English perfectly well, hes likely to give up on the home language, even in the face of strong disapproval from the parents. Its a myth that children learn to speak mainly from their parents. They dont: they learn mostly from
9、their peers. This is most easily seen among children of immigrants, whether they come from differing language backgrounds or merely different dialect areas: the children invariably come to speak the dialect of their neighborhood and school, not that of their parents.( I found a neat example of this
10、in my colleges alumni magazine: A liberal family in Mississippi sent their daughter to the public schools, which except for her were all black. She grew up speaking fluent African-American Vernacular English.) Do We Need Grammar? Supporters of the “language instinct“ make much of the fact that child
11、ren learn to speak without formal instruction indeed, they notoriously ignore explicit corrections. Very little of what we learn is through formal instruction. Children arent schooled in video games, either, yet they pick them up with the same seeming ease. The apparent effortlessness is largely an
12、illusion caused by psychological distance. We just dont remember how hard it was to learn language. (In fact, theres some studies suggesting that memory is tied to language, so that we cant remember the language learning process.) The perception of effortlessness should be balanced, anyway, by the u
13、niversal amusement(which some cartoonists have been mining for nearly half a century) over childrens language mistakes. Do Children Learn Faster? One may fall back on the position that languages may be hard for children to learn, but at least they do it better than adults. This, however, turns out t
14、o be surprisingly difficult to prove. Singleton examined hundreds of studies, and found them resoundingly ambiguous. Quite a few studies, in fact, find that adult learners progress faster than children. Even in phonetics, sometimes the last stronghold of the kids-learn-free position, there are studi
15、es finding that adults are better at recognizing and producing foreign sounds. Now, I think Singleton misses a key point in understanding this discrepancy: the studies he reviews compare children vs. adults who are learning languages. Thats quite reasonable, and indeed its hard to imagine an alterna
16、tive approach; but the two groups are not really comparable! All children have to learn at least one language; but few adults do. So the studies compare the situation of all children with that of the minority of adults motivated to formally learn other languages. Why? Why do children learn languages
17、 well, when even adults who want to learn them have trouble with them? Innate abilities aside, children have a number of powerful advantages: They can devote almost their full time to it. Adults consider half an hours study a day to be onerous. Their motivation is intense. Adults rarely have to spen
18、d much of their time in the company of people they need to talk to but cant; children can get very little of what they want without learning language(s). Their peers are nastier. Embarrassment is a prime motivating factor for human beings(I owe this insight to Marvin Minskys The Society of Mind, but
19、 it was most memorably expressed by David Berlinski in Black Mischief, p. 129, who noted that of all emotions, from rage to depression to first love, only embarrassment can recur, decades later, with its full original intensity). Dealing with a French waiter is nothing compared with the vicious rece
20、ption in store for a child who speaks funny. If adults could be placed in a similar situation, they might well learn languages as readily as children. The closest such situation is cross-cultural marriage. And indeed, this works quite well. My wife, for instance, a native Spanish speaker who came he
21、re in her late 20s, has learned exceptional English, since we speak it at home. By contrast, some of her Spanish-speaking friends of the same age, married to other Spanish speakers, speak English haltingly and with a strong accent. 2 The passage gives a general explanation about the benefits of a cr
22、oss-cultural marriage. （ A） Y （ B） N （ C） NG 3 According to the author, children dont learn another language if they dont have to. （ A） Y （ B） N （ C） NG 4 Unless children have other people in their lives who speak another language, they wont become fluent speakers in that language. （ A） Y （ B） N （ C
23、） NG 5 Children dont learn to speak another language from their parents because at times, children dont get along with their parents. （ A） Y （ B） N （ C） NG 6 Nearly everything we learn is through formal instruction. （ A） Y （ B） N （ C） NG 7 Few studies find that adult language learners progress faste
24、r than children. （ A） Y （ B） N （ C） NG 8 Some studies say that adults are better at learning phonetics than children. （ A） Y （ B） N （ C） NG 9 Singletons studies compare the situation of all children with that of the _ of adults motivated to formally learn other languages. 10 Three advantages that ch
25、ildren have over adults in language learning include: _, _, and _. 11 The closest situation to that of a childrens environment for adults is _. 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
26、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. During the pause, you must read the four choices marked A, B, C and D, and decide which is the best answer. （ A） On a plane. （ B） On a bus. （ C） On a train.
27、 （ D） In a taxi. （ A） He likes to go with her. （ B） He has no time. （ C） He doesnt feel welt. （ D） He doesnt like the evening party. （ A） 15 minutes. （ B） 20 minutes. （ C） 10 minutes （ D） 25 minutes. （ A） It was quite warm. （ B） It was very cold. （ C） It was mildly cold. （ D） It was below zero. （ A）
28、 She has mistaken it for his dog. （ B） He has a nice dog. （ C） They never go out. （ D） They enjoy staying at home. （ A） Mow the lawn. （ B） Wash the car. （ C） Exercise in the sun. （ D） None of these. （ A） She paid by check. （ B） She decided not to make the purchase. （ C） She paid by credit card. （ D）
29、 She left without paying. （ A） Doctor and patient. （ B） Passenger and bus driver. （ C） Teacher and student. （ D） Customer and merchant. （ A） Better land. （ B） Quick wealth. （ C） Modem equipment. （ D） Stricter laws. （ A） The benefits of strong business competition. （ B） A proposal to lower the cost o
30、f production. （ C） Complaints about the expense of modernization. （ D） Suggestions concerning new business Strategies. （ A） It cost much more than its worth. （ B） It should be brought up-to-date. （ C） It calls for immediate repairs. （ D） It can still be used for a long time. （ A） The personnel manag
31、er should be fired for inefficiency. （ B） A few engineers should be employed to modernize the factory. （ C） The entire staff should be retrained. （ D） Better educated employees should be promoted. （ A） Their competitors have long been advertising on TV. （ B） TV commercials are less expensive. （ C） A
32、dvertising in newspapers alone is not sufficient. （ D） TV commercials attract more investments. 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
33、 a question, you must choose the best answer from the four choices marked A, B, C and D. （ A） She wanted to buy a car. （ B） She wanted to joke with the bank. （ C） The bank is the cheapest place in New York to park her car. （ D） She will go to Europe on business. （ A） $15.00. （ B） $15.40. （ C） $50.00
34、. （ D） $50.14. （ A） She can return the loan on time. （ B） She possessed a costly car. （ C） She borrowed a lot of money. （ D） She is a multimillionaire. （ A） Monitor students sleep patterns. （ B） Help students concentrate in class. （ C） Record students weekly performance. （ D） Ask students to complet
35、e a sleep report. （ A） Declining health. （ B） Lack of attention. （ C） Loss of motivation. （ D） Improper behavior. （ A） They should make sum their children are always punctual for school. （ B） They should ensure their children grow up in a healthy environment. （ C） They should help their children acc
36、omplish high-quality work. （ D） They should see to it that their children have adequate deep. （ A） He lost his father when he was young. （ B） He worked hard before he read his fathers letter. （ C） He asked his fathers permission to believe in himself. （ D） He knew what his father wanted to do from t
37、he very beginning. （ A） To describe childrens thinking. （ B） To answer some questions children have. （ C） To stress the importance of communication. （ D） To advise parents to encourage their children. Section C Directions: In this section, you will hear a passage three times. When the passage is rea
38、d 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 missing info
39、rmation. For these blanks, you can either use the exact words you have just heard or write down the 32 Most workers spend eight or nine hours on the job. They work because its【 B1】_ .They need to make enough money for 【 B2】 _. food, rent, clothing, transportation, tuition, and so on. They spend abou
40、t one-third of their lives at work, but they hate it. They complain and【 B3】 _the minutes until quitting time each day or the days until their next vacation. By【 B4】 _there are some people who actually enjoy work in fact, they love to work. They spend many【 B5】 _hours on the job each week and often
41、take work home with them. These workaholics are as【 B6】 _to their jobs as other people are to drugs or alcohol. In some urban center, workaholism is so much common that people do not consider it unusual: They accept the lifestyle as 【 B7】 _. Government workers in Washington D.C., for example,【 B8】 _
42、work sixty or seventy hours a week.【 B9】 _. Hundreds of workaholics in New York City【 B10】 _ There was no electricity no air conditioning, elevators, or lights but many people went to their offices anyway.【 B11】 _. 33 【 B1】 34 【 B2】 35 【 B3】 36 【 B4】 37 【 B5】 38 【 B6】 39 【 B7】 40 【 B8】 41 【 B9】 42 【
43、 B10】 43 【 B11】 Section 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 i
44、dentified by a letter. 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. 43 For many years, women in the military served mostly as nurses. Today, they do many other kinds of work as well. Women have
45、reached some of the highest positions in the military. But they are still barred from taking part in ground combat. Yet more than forty women have been killed in the war in Iraq. Hundreds of others have been【 S1】 _. The war began in March of 2003. Two【 S2】_published books tell two different stories
46、of women who served in Iraq. One is by Janis Karpinski. She was the Army General who【 S3】 _military police at prisons in Iraq. These included the Army Reserve soldiers who【 S4】 _the Abu Ghraib Prison near Baghdad. Some have received prison【 S5】 _for mistreating prisoners at Abu Ghraib. Miz Karpinski
47、 became the highest-level officer to be punished in connection with the【 S6】 _. She left the service in July after being reduced from a brigadier general(准将 ) to a colonel (上校 ). Her book is called One Womans Army: The Commanding General of Abu Ghraib Tells Her Story. Miz Karpinski says she was unfa
48、irly blamed for conditions beyond her control. She also tells of her difficulties as a rising woman【 S7】 _in the Army. Another former member of the Army, Kayla Williams, wrote a book called Love My Rifle More Than You. The name is taken from a【 S8】 _song. Miz Williams was an Arabic translator in Ira
49、q. She says her book describes what it is like to be young and【 S9】 _in the Army. One famous【 S10】_called it “a frank, hocking and honest look at life in the military.“ A) abused B) female C) wounded D) officer E) treatments F) case G) commanded H) soldier I) reviewer J) recently K) marching L) simply M) guarded N) beautiful O) sentences 44 【 S1】 45 【 S2】 46 【 S3】 47 【
