1、大学英语四级（ 2013年 12月考试改革适用）模拟试卷 232及答案与解析 一、 Part I Writing 1 Directions： For this part， you are allowed 30 minutes to write a composition on the topic Skipping Classes in Colleges You should write at least 120 words but no more than 180 words. Outlines are given below in Chinese： 1大学生逃课现象严重； 2剖析一下该现象背
2、后的原因： 3现状能否改善，如何去做？ Section A （ A） Christmas-time attacks made by Somali rebels. （ B） An explosion at a bus station in central Nairobi. （ C） The killing of more than 70 Ugandans in Kampala. （ D） Blasts set off by a Somali group in Ugandas capital. （ A） On Christmas Eve. （ B） Just before midnight. （
3、C） During a security check. （ D） In the small hours of the morning. （ A） It is likely to close many of its stores. （ B） It is known for the quality of its goods. （ C） It remains competitive in the recession. （ D） It will expand its online retail business. （ A） Expand its business beyond groceries. （
4、 B） Fire 25, 000 of its current employees. （ C） Cut its DVD publishing business. （ D） Sell the business for one pound. （ A） All taxis began to use meters. （ B） All taxis got air conditioning. （ C） Advertisements were allowed on taxis. （ D） Old taxis were replaced with new cabs. （ A） A low interest l
5、oan scheme. （ B） Environmentalists protests. （ C） Taxi passengers complaints. （ D） Permission for car advertising. （ A） There are no more irregular practices. （ B） All new cabs provide air-conditioning. （ C） New cabs are all equipped with meters. （ D） New legislation protects consumer rights. Sectio
6、n B （ A） To make preparations for a new publication. （ B） To learn how couples spend their weekends. （ C） To know how housework is shared. （ D） To investigate what people do at the weekend. （ A） He goes to exercise classes. （ B） He goes sailing. （ C） He goes to the cinema. （ D） He stays at home. （ A
7、） Friday. （ B） Saturday. （ C） Sunday. （ D） Any weekday. （ A） Surname. （ B） Job title. （ C） Address. （ D） Age. （ A） About 12 minutes. （ B） About 20 minutes. （ C） About 22 minutes. （ D） About 30 minutes. （ A） Because she thinks theres no way anyone else could fit on. （ B） Because she thinks that 20 mi
8、nutes late for a train is pretty standard. （ C） Because she finds that its hard to find the commuting. （ D） Because she was shocked by the complicated schedules. （ A） Read a book. （ B） Play Game Boy. （ C） Listen to music. （ D） Chat with others. （ A） Because she may lose her belongings. （ B） Because
9、she may miss the stop. （ C） Because its harmful to her health. （ D） Because there is no space to turn over. Section C （ A） Space. （ B） Stress. （ C） Diet. （ D） Sleep. （ A） They tend to reproduce more. （ B） They may show more signs of violence. （ C） They can eat and sleep better. （ D） They may commit
10、suicide. （ A） Rats can populate rapidly. （ B） Population explosion can lead to violence. （ C） It is a natural law that animals live and die. （ D） Over-crowdedness may have the same effects on man. （ A） Crimes committed by young people. （ B） Crimes committed by needy people. （ C） Influence on young p
11、eople. （ D） Stealing and violence. （ A） They are usually poor and in need. （ B） They do not have as much freedom or money as they want. （ C） They live in an environment where everybody knows each other. （ D） They are not satisfied with the adult world. （ A） The family and the school. （ B） The adults
12、 and the mass media. （ C） The society and the young people. （ D） The young people themselves. （ A） About seven million. （ B） Half of the American population. （ C） 25% of American people. （ D） About 25 million. （ A） They are older than young people. （ B） The young people will soon be in charge of the
13、 nation. （ C） The students today have strong opinions. （ D） The youths ideas are sometimes wrong. （ A） The lives of their parents. （ B） Making a better life for all people. （ C） The trouble in American families. （ D） The strong opinions. （ A） They feel much is wrong with the lives of their parents.
14、（ B） They see clearly what is right and good in the lives of their parents. （ C） They feel that everything about the lives of their parents is acceptable. （ D） They feel nothing is right and good in the lives of their parents. Section A 26 The hassle involved in updating software means many of us do
15、nt do it, leaving our computers exposed to crash-prone, and insecure code. But now two major objections to【 C1】 _ updates the fact that you have to stop running the software to upgrade it and the【 C2】 _ that an update will introduce bugs could be removed thanks to an ingenious idea from engineers at
16、 Imperial College London. Computer scientists have worked out how to employ the unused cores in “multicore“ (多核 ) microprocessors (微处理器 ) to make the update process invisible to the user. Whenever an update is【 C3】 _ , their trick is to leave the old version of the software running on one【 C4】 _ so
17、you can carry on using it while running the update in【 C5】 _ on an unused core. They then synchronize (使同步；使同时发生 ) the execution of the two programs in such a way an idea that limits damage from fresh bugs introduced by the update. In a Swiss survey, 70 per cent of a sample of 50 system administrato
18、rs admitted they dont always update software for fear of the【 C6】 _ it will cause and because 25 per cent of updates can introduce new【 C7】 _ . The Imperial team has now successfully tested their idea, they told the International Conference on Software Engineering in San Francisco last month. They s
19、ay their【 C8】_ could be applied to apps on【 C9】 _ as well as to server applications, but it is best suited to larger systems needing “increasing reliability, availability and【 C10】_ “. A) downtime F) smartphones K) core B) available G) secure L) security C) ideas H) parallel M) installing D) bugs I)
20、 fear N) version E) equipment J) using O) trick 27 【 C1】 28 【 C2】 29 【 C3】 30 【 C4】 31 【 C5】 32 【 C6】 33 【 C7】 34 【 C8】 35 【 C9】 36 【 C10】 Section B 36 More Pet Brands Target Owners Who Like to Cook Their Own Dog Food A) Dog owners “know theyre not quite cooking“ when they mash the meat or mix it wi
21、th kibble, says Scott Morris, co-founder of the Secaucus, N. J., company. “But they still feel emotionally rewarded for the effort.“ That insight is driving a big shift in the way companies are designing food for the nations millions of dogs and cats. After years of steadily rising pet-food sales, b
22、rands are launching premium-priced products requiring humans to refrigerate, freeze, dice, heat and/or mix-in additional ingredients like meat and vegetables. B) More pet owners want to feed their dogs and cats fresh food like the stuff people eat. These pet “parents“ want to do more than dump food
23、from a can or a bag into a bowl. They want to prepare a meal for their pet the way they would for a family member. Companies are designing specifically for the “happy dance“ what the industry calls all the jumping, wagging, purring and pawing that hungry dogs and cats do when anticipating a meal. “
24、That enjoyment is what the pet parent is looking for,“ says Evelia Davis, vice president of consumable merchandise for retailer PetSmart Inc. C) A majority of pet owners now customize their pets meals in some way, maybe adding bacon or some chopped vegetables, according to research from retailer Pet
25、co Animal Supplies Inc. “Were seeing it as a shift,“ says John Sturm, vice president of food and treats. “Just putting the bowl on the ground and walking away isnt the humanized experience that pet parents are looking for.“ Laura Twichell says the extra steps she takes to feed her black Labrador hel
26、p stave off digestive problems. Twice a day, Ms. Twichell, a stay-at-home mother in Cincinnati, slices a quarter-pound slab from a roll of refrigerated chicken-and-vegetable dog food. She mixes it with a half-cup of organic, salmon-based kibble, which she has soaked in water and then heated in the m
27、icrowave, plus three tablespoons of canned pumpkin puree. D) Once mainstream shoppers didnt give the ingredients in pet food much thought. Experts say its hard to achieve a balanced homemade diet, though, and eventually the expense and time involved turned a lot of pet owners off and opened the door
28、 to nutrient-rich packaged products that require just a little preparation. E) In March, Nestle S. A. owned Purina introduced Just Right, an online customizable brand that asks owners questions about their dog, including breed, age, activity level and skin condition, and then helps tailor food to th
29、e dogs individual needs. “We built this brand based on the belief that the best nutrition is personalized,“ says Brian Lester, Purinas director of marketing for innovation. F) U. S. sales of pet food in 2013 totaled an estimated $21 billion, up 24% since 2008, according to market research firm Packa
30、ged Facts. The industrys growth through the recession points to the close bond consumers feel with pets. In a survey last year, 83% of consumers said they consider their pets part of the family. Over the next 18 months, Whole Foods Market Inc. says it plans to expand its selection of organic and ani
31、mal welfare-rated pet food so the aisle looks more like one of its human food aisles. “We want people to know that the pet food they buy in our store would be something that they would be just as happy buying for themselves,“ says Dwight Richmond, global grocery purchasing coordinator at Whole Foods
32、. G) Mr. Richmond who prefers the term pet “partners,“ not “owners“ cooks for his two Jack Russell Terriers, often making salmon or beef for both the dogs and for his wife and himself. The dogs meals are mixed with kibble. Freshpet says its refrigerated meat rolls are cooked in small batches at lowe
33、r temperatures without preservatives. With flavors for dogs like “grain-free salmon and ocean whitefish with spinach, cranberries and blueberries, “ Freshpet compares its products to “ a meal youd cook for your family, using simple ingredients you recognize“. H) Lucy Postins, chief executive and fou
34、nder, at first worried people wouldnt want the hassle of mixing warm water with dehydrate (脱水的 ) food mix. “ But they embraced it, “ she says. “They love the fact that they share with their pet this moment of anticipation.“ Ms. Postins says she personally tastes all Honest Kitchens products and ingr
35、edients and now is focused on adding variety because many owners worry their dogs and cats will get bored with repetition. I) In July, duck will join the lineup including cage-free turkey, free-range chicken and line-caught haddock. Honest Kitchen plans to add dry mixes including blends of buckwheat
36、, millet and quinoa, and vegetables like chard, pumpkin and peas to which consumers can add cooked or raw meat. Several pet-food makers say natural ingredients make their recipes appealing to humans. “The gross-out factor is gone with us,“ says Mark Sapir, vice president of marketing for Merrick Pet
37、 Care Inc. The companys canned “French Country Cafe“ dog food evokes “the romance of France“ and “will have your dog begging for more in a heavy French accent, “the company says. “Thanksgiving Day Dinner“ has turkey, sweet potatoes, carrots, green beans and Granny Smith apples. “When you open the ca
38、n, its really a human mealtime experience,“ Mr. Sapir says. J) Not every popular fruit and vegetable translates well for the pet palate. “A lot of these natural ingredients have a good cachet about them but arent necessarily what a dog or cat would have any interest in eating,“ says Nancy Rawson, a
39、director of research at AFB International, in St. Charles, Mo., which produces flavor coatings to the pet-food industry. Behavioral analysis of dogs and cats helps Dr. Rawson determine whether flavors need to be adjusted. By examining how dogs and cats sniff, poke and eat their food, she finds out t
40、heir enthusiasm or objection. Having worked to balance strong-flavored pet-food ingredients like blueberries and peas, Dr. Rawson is bracing for the day when shell have to tackle the bitter taste of kale. “Im sure its coming,“ she says. 37 Some companies pay more attention on adding variety for fear
41、 that the dogs and cats may be fed up with repetition. 38 Some people prefer using pet partners to pet owners. 39 Companies begin to realize the importance of cooking the most nutritious food for their pets. 40 Experts try to balance the ingredients of pet food in order to produce suitable food for
42、dogs and cats. 41 The food cooked by pet owners for their dogs or cats may not achieve a healthy diet. 42 The natural ingredients in pet food attract more people. 43 A large amount of pet owners will customize food for their dog or cat. 44 Peoples attitude to their pets promotes the development of p
43、et food industry. 45 Pet owners are no longer satisfied with feeding their pet can food. 46 Many companies change their ways in designing pet food for the millions of dogs and cats. Section C 46 Trawling (用拖网捕鱼 ) the seabed for fish is an environmental disaster; it wrecks ecosystems, destroys fish s
44、tocks and leaves behind a marine desert. Right? Environment campaigners say so. But there is growing evidence that the effect is sometimes very different, with trawling increasing fish stocks from the North Sea to the California coast. A new modeling study may for the first time have demonstrated wh
45、y. Trawlers attach large nets to a metal beam dragged across the seabed to catch bottom-dwelling fish. Greenpeace compares it to “driving a huge bulldozer through a forest“, leaving a flat, featureless desert on the seabed. Trawling clearly does remove fish, such as large crustaceans and shellfish,
46、says Daniel van Denderen of the Wageningen Institute for Marine Resources and Ecosystem Studies in the Netherlands. But this is a lucky break for softer, smaller species lurking in the sandy seabed, such as worms. They survive and, with fewer rivals, flourish. And if, as is often the case, these sma
47、ller critters are the main food for fish, then the overall effect is to nurture more marine life. Imants Priede, director of Oceanlab at the University of Aberdeen, UK, says there is growing evidence that while far from universal the phenomenon is real. “On continental shelves such as the southern N
48、orth Sea, where shifting sands and gravels are stirred up by strong tidal currents, even trawling more than once a year may be beneficial for some fish stocks,“ he says. In fact, studies going back 20 years have linked persistent trawling with increased fish stocks. The cause of this counter-intuiti
49、ve finding has remained uncertain. Some have suggested that trawling stirs up the seabed, throwing potential food into the water column rather like ploughing a field. Others think that discards from fish nets add to the food available on the sea floor. But van Denderen is the first to show how trawling can stimulate fisheries simply by drifting from ecosystems. “The findings are very important,“ says Priede. 47 According to environment campaigners, which of the following is not t
