1、大学英语四级（ 2013年 12月考试改革适用）模拟试卷 187及答案与解析 一、 Part I Writing 1 For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write a short essay entitled On Urban Waterlogging (内涝 ) following the outline given below. You should write at least 120 words but no more than 180 words. 1如今不少大城市一下暴雨就出现城市内涝的现象 2出现这一现象的原因 3我对这一现
2、象的看法和建议 On Urban Waterlogging Section A （ A） In a tropical rain forest in China. （ B） In a tropical rain forest in India. （ C） In a tropical wetland in India. （ D） In a tropical wetland in Thailand. （ A） The rapid reduction of tropical forests. （ B） The increase of global temperature. （ C） Emergence
3、 of an entirely new species. （ D） The scientific search for other animals. （ A） She drew the man in mask out of her car. （ B） She called the police for help at once. （ C） She pulled her children out of the vehicle. （ D） She hit the man in mask with a gun hard. （ A） The suspects escaped from the poli
4、ce. （ B） The suspects robbed the car of the mother. （ C） The suspects were locked in the mothers car. （ D） The suspects were arrested by the police. （ A） They are too light to be steady. （ B） They have cut off some users toes. （ C） They are easily broken in use. （ D） They endanger junior children. （
5、 A） He had one of his legs removed. （ B） His mother was hurt by the chair. （ C） He was operated on the toe. （ D） He complained about the chairs quality on Facebook. （ A） It replaced these chairs with safer ones. （ B） It made apologies to all Australian victims. （ C） It offered free spare parts to ma
6、ke chairs safe. （ D） It gave compensation to Australian claimers. Section B （ A） The color doesnt suit him. （ B） He finds it much too big. （ C） It is too small for him now. （ D） The quality is not good. （ A） Give his money back. （ B） Explain the washing instructions to him. （ C） Wash the shirt for h
7、im. （ D） Exchange for another shirt for him. （ A） The shirt has been washed. （ B） The shirt has shrunk in the wash. （ C） The shirt is a clearance item. （ D） The man didnt take the receipt. （ A） Angry. （ B） Indifferent. （ C） Satisfied. （ D） Regretful. （ A） Monday and Thursday. （ B） Monday, Wednesday,
8、 and Friday. （ C） Wednesday and Friday. （ D） Tuesday and Thursday. （ A） The first lecture. （ B） A class meeting. （ C） The opening ceremony. （ D） An orientation. （ A） He has another class at 4:30. （ B） He has to go for a part-time job. （ C） He needs time to prepare for it. （ D） He has to attend a mee
9、ting at that time. （ A） Attendance is flexible. （ B） Attendance is not required. （ C） Attendance should be at least 90%. （ D） Full attendance is required. Section C （ A） Happy moods. （ B） Good memory. （ C） Proper reasoning. （ D） Some training. （ A） To improve old peoples memory and thinking ability.
10、 （ B） To test how long thinking skill lasts in trained older people. （ C） To help old people do daily work. （ D） To examine how long a well-trained old people can live. （ A） Speed of finishing short training class. （ B） Speed of receiving and understanding information. （ C） Speed of learning memory
11、and thinking skills. （ D） Speed of generating correct reasoning. （ A） They disappear after the training. （ B） They endure for five years. （ C） They last for a full ten years. （ D） They remain forever. （ A） Its strong currency. （ B） Its high cost of buying a car. （ C） Its beautiful environment. （ D）
12、Its massive immigrants. （ A） Sydney. （ B） Paris. （ C） Tokyo. （ D） New York City. （ A） High renting fees. （ B） Costly traveling expenses. （ C） High costs of groceries. （ D） High costs of education. （ A） Those who seldom sleep. （ B） Those who seldom drink. （ C） Those who often smoke. （ D） Those who of
13、ten eat junk food. （ A） No smoking or drinking guarantees happiness. （ B） Kids with happy characters are less inclined to drink. （ C） Unhappy kids are more likely to be less healthy. （ D） Eating junk food worsens kids health. （ A） Eating fruits. （ B） Making friends. （ C） Drinking alcohol. （ D） Doing
14、 exercise. Section A 26 When it comes to using technology to promote education, the prevailing wisdom has been that more is better. Over the past decade, universities have invested heavily to add equipments into the classroom. But there is little【 C1】 _that these equipments enhance learning and, cri
15、tics argue, they might actually【 C2】 _it, making both students and teachers passive. What if classrooms were【 C3】 _to the pre-Internet days of wooden tables and chalk? Jose Bowen, dean of the Meadows School of the Arts at Southern Methodist University, has taken technology out of the classroom. He w
16、ants his【 C4】 _to “teach naked,“ meaning without the aid of any machines. Classroom time should be【 C5】 _for discussions with the professor, aimed at teaching students to think critically, argue, and raise new questions. Bowen, who teaches music, delivers content via podcasts (播客 ), which students m
17、ust listen to on their own time. He then tests them on the material before every class and uses class time for discussions. Hes been teaching the same material for 25 years, but since he【 C6】 _this new method, his students have been more engaged and scored better on exams. College students asked by
18、researchers to list what motivates them have【 C7】_emphasized teacher enthusiasm, organization, and harmonious relationship, while naming lack of【 C8】 _participation as a major negative factor. Technology has a place in education, but it should be used【 C9】 _by students outside the classroom. That gi
19、ves them more time to absorb【 C10】 _via podcast or video, and frees teachers to spend class time coaching students in how to apply the material rather than simply absorb it. A) active E) creative I) implemented M) persistently B) coach F) evidence J) improve N) reserved C) consistently G) faculty K)
20、 independently O) restored D) course H) hinder L) lectures 27 【 C1】 28 【 C2】 29 【 C3】 30 【 C4】 31 【 C5】 32 【 C6】 33 【 C7】 34 【 C8】 35 【 C9】 36 【 C10】 Section B 36 Designing for sustainability: what are the challenges behind green materials? A Learning to surf in Californias icy breakers, Todd Copela
21、nd, a design master at the Patagonia clothing company, concluded that wetsuits (潜水服 ) werent cutting it. Sure, a traditional Neoprene (氯丁橡胶 ) suit could keep him warm, but the suits material could be synthesised only from non-renewable, energy-intensive resources such as petroleum. B In spring 2008,
22、 Copeland blogged about the need for a truly green alternative. And, later that summer, his cry found its way to Yulex, an Arizona-based company working to bring back a low-energy, low-poison recipe for rubber from guayuie (银胶菊 ), a desert bush native to North America. Research on the plant peaked d
23、uring the Second World War but was then shelved. Yulex had restarted the work around 2000 and was making hypo-allergenic (低过敏的 ) surgical gloves, but was seeking a new market. It saw Copelands post, and soon its representatives came knocking. C Yulexs efforts are set to pay off later this fall, when
24、 Patagonia releases a full wetsuit made from a 60:40 blend of guayule and conventional Neoprene, five years after Copeland initiated the search. “We hope to get that to 100% guayuie, but it takes time to learn a new material,“ says Copeland, now Patagonias environmental product specialist. D This lu
25、cky match between designer and material maker is, unfortunately, a rare exception. The tale of Patagonias eco-wetsuit offers a lesson of the larger challenge facing green materials on the path from lab to market. The process remains a complex web that few materials survive. But a recent survey of de
26、sign leaders reveals that while eco-materials still face a tougher journey than their conventional peers, the process of green technology transfer is making progress. E Though spotty, statistics on green materials markets are all pointing up. The building industry is one of the largest shifting towa
27、rds lower-impact practices. In the US, the green construction market is worth roughly $100bn, a ten-fold rise since 2006, according to the 2013 Dodge Construction Green Outlook. As a share, green construction now accounts for 44% of total US commercial and institutional construction, up from near ze
28、ro a decade ago. F Evidence suggests that big corporations are deepening their commitment to these priorities, as well. For example, Green adoption has also been accelerating at Ford. A decade ago, engineers at the No. 2 US automaker were distrustful of the cost and performance benefits of alternati
29、ves. Today, following a storm of successful material substitutions, design engineers are required to evaluate and pick green candidates where they equal or exceed conventional materials. G Fords shift didnt come quickly. “We were kicked out of conference rooms,“ laughs Debbie Mielewski, technical le
30、ader for Plastics Research at Ford Motor Co, recalling her efforts in the early 2000s to pitch bio-based plastics to the car makers internal development engineers. “They saw only risk and additional cost,“ she says. But thanks to the protection of Bill Ford Jr, the companys then CEO, Fords bio-plast
31、ics R&D program had the time and funding to mature new offerings to the point where today soy-based polyurethane foams (大豆聚氨酯泡沫塑料 ) are used in the seat cushions, backs, and headrests of all vehicles built in North America. A focus on value and performance has helped reverse early disbelief. “Our go
32、al has always been to match the price and performance of any material were hoping to replace,“ she says. H As its commitment to recover and re-use waste carpet materials started to take root in the 1990s, Atlanta-based Interface, a $lbn-per-year manufacturer of carpet used primarily in commercial sp
33、aces, recognised it could push this goal only as quickly as a key fibre supplier, Italys Aquafil, was able to develop and scale-up processes to harvest fibers from recovered carpets and to then re-melt them for use in new carpeting. “This was more of us pushing recycled materials,“ by Interface, “ra
34、ther than a pull“ from the market, says Nigel Stansfield, Interfaces vice president and chief innovations officer. “We had to overcome a perception that recycled was more costly, or performed less well.“ I Interface also faced a reverse logistics (物流 ) challenge: it had to work with existing and new
35、 partners to learn how to capture and truck tons of carpet back to its partner plants. “To make this work, weve had to focus on all parts of the products life cycle at once,“ Stansfield says. At the installation phase, for example, this has meant educating flooring installers to abandon long-standin
36、g practices of gluing carpets down, which damages the material at the later recovery stage. Interface instead relies on gravity and strong gluey patches to link its carpet tile and keep carpets locked down. And at the end-of-use stage, the move has meant developing reverse logistics flows, to steer
37、carpet waste away from landfills, and back to re-processors such as Aquafil. J Designers are widely frustrated by a lack of consistent, reliable services that can verify green materials virtues. The industry needs a “greenwash monitor (漂绿监控 ),“ Patagonias Copeland says. There has been some movement
38、toward this goal, with efforts including Nikes MAKING app, Material Connexion, and the Sustainable Packaging Coalition. Green materials can fail an evaluation for many reasons. A few years ago, Patagonia became interested in bamboo-based fabrics. The cultivation of fast-growing bamboo was appealing
39、as a sustainable raw material. But on deeper investigation, Patagonia passed on the new fabrics because the process to convert bamboo into fibres proved just as poisonous as the standard method. K “Most clients think that sustainable design is simply a case of switching existing material for a green
40、er option,“ says Chris Sherwin, head of sustainability at Seymourpowell, a London-based design advisor. “Same product, new material: thats wrong on many grounds.“ Sherwin argues that its critical to understand that the stuff from which a product is made often accounts for only a tiny fraction of the
41、 impact of the use-phase of a products lifetime. Hence, its smarter for laundry soap makers to improve the performance of their cleansers in cold water rather than focus solely on revising packaging. “We should start with more fundamental product redesign,“ Sherwin says. “We must start by asking, ho
42、w will the consumers needs best be satisfied, and design accordingly.“ 37 Even though the process of green technology transfer is hard, its improving. 38 Bamboo failed the green material evaluation not because of the material itself but because of its process to convert into fibres. 39 The research
43、on guayule wasnt at its height when Yulex started its work on it. 40 Taking factors like the cost and performance benefits into consideration, engineers at Ford didnt trust green materials about ten years ago. 41 Interface started committing to using recycled materials in the 1990s. 42 Nearly half o
44、f the US commercial and institutional construction is now green. 43 Most clients view that sustainable design means producing the same products with green material is wrong. 44 The focus on risk and additional cost nearly got Fords bio plastics program rejected. 45 Patagonias newly wetsuit will be r
45、eleased this autumn. 46 Gluing carpets down can bring negative effects on materials in the recovery stage. Section C 46 If you ask 20 random graduates to explain why they went to business school, a large majority will list networking as one of the top reasons. Makes sense, too, since the connections
46、 one makes in business school can be useful down the road in finding jobs and excelling at them. Which is why its all the more curious that if you comb through the course curriculum of 20 random business schools, youd be hard-pressed to turn up more than a handful that actually teach their students
47、how to network. An article by David Kahn, chief revenue officer at the Wall Street Journal Office Network, complained the fact that most businesses do a poor job teaching their employees how to network, especially those workers who are not directly connected to obvious revenue-generation functions.
48、By any name “networking“, “relationship capital“, “social capital“ the sum and substance of ones connections and networks has value far beyond job searches. They are essential to all sorts of organizational priorities not only sales, but also recruiting, lobbying and various types of “sourcing“, fro
49、m partnerships to acquisition targets to industry experts. A few business schools take networking seriously most notably the University of Michigans Stephen M. Ross School, where a growing number of academic professors have started to research social networks from a variety of angles. But most business schools and pretty much all undergraduate institutions ignore networking as a discipline entirely or give it passing attention in modules embedded (嵌入 ) in broad
