1、大学英语四级（ 2013年 12月考试改革适用）模拟试卷 233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 On Traffic Problems in Big Cities You should write at least 120 words but no more than 180 words Outlines are given below in Chinese 1大城市的机动车保有量迅速增长，交通
2、问题凸显； 2部分大城市实行车辆限行来缓解交通压力； 3对此，你有什么看法和建议 ? Section A （ A） They made more efforts to find more new cases. （ B） They tried to prevent the disease out of the capital. （ C） They held a public movement on hygiene information. （ D） They boosted the accuracy and promptness of their report. （ A） Its the fir
3、st time that the disease has broken out in Haiti. （ B） The death rate of the disease is too high. （ C） Death number will keep increasing for a long time. （ D） The disease could join other local diseases in Haiti. （ A） The children of the international diplomatic corps. （ B） The program of Internatio
4、nal Baccalaureate schools （ C） The school district in the suburb of Detroit, Michigan. （ D） Mother Earth class in IB elementary schools. （ A） Subject areas are separated. （ B） Classes are held in the open air. （ C） Mother Earth class covers math. （ D） Teachers prepare classes together. （ A） Heavy. （
5、 B） Strong. （ C） Quickly. （ D） Blinding. （ A） In 1870. （ B） In 1817. （ C） In 1807. （ D） In 1877. （ A） To tell someone something true. （ B） To tell someone something pleasant. （ C） To tell someone some pleasant but false statements. （ D） To tell someone some beautiful and happy things. Section B （ A）
6、 Since Friday. （ B） Since Saturday. （ C） Since Sunday. （ D） Since Monday. （ A） He has a cold. （ B） He has the flu. （ C） He has a stomachache. （ D） He has a toothache. （ A） Take herbal tea. （ B） See another doctor. （ C） Drink chicken soup. （ D） Stay in bed. （ A） At 7 : 13. （ B） At 17 : 13. （ C） At 7
7、: 30. （ D） At 17 : 30. （ A） Go to the dentists. （ B） Clean the house. （ C） Walk the dog. （ D） Finish her assignment. （ A） 12 : 30 pm. （ B） 2 : 30 pm. （ C） 4 : 30 pm. （ D） 5:30 下午 （ A） Exciting. （ B） Rewarding. （ C） Disappointing. （ D） Exhausting. （ A） Susan will be asked to do something else. （ B） S
8、usans mother is going to use the video machine. （ C） They cant decide on a video. （ D） The machine isnt working. Section C （ A） We have to use first our eyes, then the brain and finally the muscles. （ B） We have to make our eyes, brain and muscles work almost at the same time. （ C） We have to use ma
9、inly the arms and legs to hit. （ D） We have to use mainly the muscles so that the ball is met and hit back. （ A） What he does out of class. （ B） What he learns in books. （ C） His place in society. （ D） His lessons in school. （ A） It is its members. （ B） It is its team work. （ C） It is the football f
10、ield. （ D） It is the climate. （ A） They live in twenty rainforests. （ B） They live in several hundred different varieties of trees. （ C） They live in a forty-degree band of latitude. （ D） They live in areas where the rainforest has been cleared. （ A） One acre per minute. （ B） One acre per second. （
11、C） One hundred acres per minute. （ D） Two hundred acres per hour. （ A） The land will be eroded by the rains. （ B） Many species of plants and animals that depend on the rainforest will become extinct. （ C） The future of the human species may be changed. （ D） The rainforest will grow, but at a much sl
12、ower rate. （ A） To complain about car dealers. （ B） To offer advice to prospective car buyers. （ C） To sell new cars. （ D） To explain how to finance a car. （ A） In December. （ B） In the fall. （ C） On the first day of the month. （ D） At the end of the week. （ A） Negotiating a lower price than the one
13、 that appears on the sticker. （ B） Not telling the dealer that you have a car to trade in. （ C） Financing the new car at the dealership. （ D） Buying a car that is on the dealers lot instead of ordering one. （ A） Negotiating a price for most purchases is not common in the United States. （ B） Car deal
14、ers in the United States are not honest. （ C） New cars are very expensive in the United States. （ D） Most shoppers have a car to trade in. Section A 26 The furniture and accessories in a private office can send apowerful message about the image the occupant wants to project. A more subtle choice the
15、【 C1】 _ you face when sitting at your desk says a lot about you too, designers say. People whose desks face straight toward the door may want to【 C2】 _ an image of power and【 C3】 _ . “It gives them a view of everything going on outside the office,“ enabling them to【 C4】 _ visitors, avoid surprises a
16、nd【 C5】 _ whats going on, says Leigh Stringer, workplace strategist at the architecture and interior-design firm HOK. Others, however, find the door distracting. Those who sit at an angle can keep an eye on who is【 C6】 _ by to avoid being ambushed (伏击；埋伏 ). Ms. Stringer calls it “the Serengeti effec
17、t“. Being able to “look out across the office and see the【 C7】 _ approach“ is naturally calming, she adds. Workers are【 C8】 _ in cubicles (小 隔间 ) often must face a corner or back wall. This might work for hermits, but it can foster anxiety. It allows colleagues to “come up and startle you, and maybe
18、 see what was on your screen,“ says industrial designer Douglas Ball. Have you been stuck with your desk facing in a direction you disliked? Have you【 C9】 _ your desk to convey the image you want? Or do you notice feeling differently about the occupant of an office based on where they【 C10】 _ their
19、desk? A) anticipate F) beautiful K) seeing B) monitor G) passing L) convey C) stuck H) give M) tiger D) involved I) repositioned N) get E) place J) direction O) authority 27 【 C1】 28 【 C2】 29 【 C3】 30 【 C4】 31 【 C5】 32 【 C6】 33 【 C7】 34 【 C8】 35 【 C9】 36 【 C10】 Section B 36 Bathing Suits and Swimmin
20、g Habits Have Changed a Lot Over the Years A) Have you picked out your swimsuit for summer yet? Some kids spend hours shopping for the right look. Others go with whatever Mom or Dad chooses for them. Whatever you wear to the pool or the beach this summer, enjoy the sun and water. And be glad you wer
21、ent around 100 or 200 years ago, when swimsuits were made of itchy wool and looked like Hogwarts robes. (Or maybe youd like to wear a Hogwarts robe to the beach!) Turn the page to take a peek at the history of the bathing suit. B) In ancient Greece and Rome, men swam for exercise and to train as war
22、riors. They also went to the public baths. Usually, they wore nothing at all. But sometimes they would put on loose-fitting gowns called togas. Women had their own public baths. Some early Roman art shows girls playing sports in what we would call bikinis. But there is no hint that these outfits wer
23、e used for swimming, which was not something women and girls did back then. C) Over time, bathing and swimming became less popular. Before the 1500s, in fact, people in Europe thought that public bathing helped spread the diseases that killed millions and wiped out entire towns during the Middle Age
24、s. It wasnt until the 17th century that swimming and public bathing spas became popular again. In addition to men, women were able to enjoy these activities, though they had to do so in nightgown like dresses. D) A British fashion report from 1687 described ladies “bathing costumes“. The dresses wer
25、e made of stiff canvas and had big sleeves. The sleeves filled with water and kept the gowns from clinging and revealing too much. Men wore canvas pants called drawers and vests called waistcoats. A big cover-up E) Back then, showing off ones body was considered improper. So people covered themselve
26、s as much as possible. Mens one-piece wool swimsuits, the style that replaced drawers and waistcoats, looked like long underwear, with full-length sleeves and legs. Womens bathing dresses often had high collars and went all the way down to their toes. They also wore bathing caps and long black stock
27、ings. F) Women were expected to be modest in other ways as well. Some, like Martha Washington, had lead weights sewn into the hems of their bathing gowns so the clothing would not float up. Others took to the water inside covered wooden frames called “bathing machines“. G) This term also was used fo
28、r small wooden cabins at Atlantic Ocean beaches in the early to mid-1800s. The cabins were set on tall wheels. While the bather was inside changing, a horse pulled the machine into the ocean. When the water was high enough, the horse was taken ashore. The bather could then step down from the cabin a
29、nd into the sea. Few people ashore saw anything but a head bobbing in the surf. H) Many beaches had separate swim times for men and women. Colored flags were posted to let them know when it was their turn to be in the water. When bloomers bloomed I) Until 1860, men and boys in England often swam nak
30、ed in lakes, rivers and seas. When the practice was banned, swimming in ones underwear became popular. Striped shirts and shorts were the rage for men in the 1870s. Flannel replaced wool and linen as the most popular material for bathing suits. It was thought to be warmer when swimming in the cold s
31、ea. J) Women, meanwhile, were shifting to bloomers a long skirt worn over loose pants. The skirts hem was about three inches above the ankle, which was pretty shocking back then. Gloves, a belt, a cap and rubber shoes completed the outfit. K) As swimming grew more popular among European women, they
32、traded in their skirts for a less bulky trousers-and-blouse swim garment. American women found that look too manly and kept their skirts for decades more. They also wore toe-length cloaks over their wet suits when crossing the beach. Today: sleeker, baggier L) When they began sharing the beach with
33、men at the turn of the 20th century, American women wanted more stylish swim attire. And with swimming now an acceptable activity, they wanted their suits to be more functional. So sleeves were shortened, then done away with. Necklines were lowered. Colored braid, ribbons and bows were added. A one-
34、piece “princess“ suit, with a separate skirt, was a big hit, as were matching mother-daughter suits. M) Mens suits were changing, too, but not always for the better. The first modern swim trunks actually made swimming more difficult because they weighed nine pounds when wet and could slip off! Form-
35、fitting suits came along in the 1930s. Swimsuits got smaller. Men removed their tops in 1937. Bikinis followed nine years later. With the arrival of new fabrics such as spandex and lycra, womens and girls suits got sleeker. Mens and boys trunks, meanwhile, got baggier. Suits made for speed N) Timing
36、 is everything in competitive swimming. One one-hundredth of a second can decide who wins a medal at a meet. So swimmers are always looking for ways to cut a sliver off their racing times. O) In the 1990s, swimsuit makers had a bold new idea: high-tech bodysuits. U. S. space engineers even helped wi
37、th the design and testing of some of these suits. They were made of lighter materials such as plastic and rubber, which soaked up less water than woven materials. Some bodysuits had no stitching, which also reduced the waters “drag“. And their skintight fit kept muscles from tiring as quickly. P) As
38、 a result, swimmers went faster. At the 2008 Summer Olympics, more than 90 percent of all swim medals were won by athletes wearing Speedos new LZR Racer bodysuit. Baltimores Michael Phelps, who won eight gold medals at those Games, said his LZR suit made him “ feel like a rocket“ in the pool. Q) Not
39、 everyone was happy with the performance-enhancing suits. Many people felt they favored scientific advances over a swimmers natural abilities. In 2010, the sports top officials banned full-length suits from major swim events. They put limits on the thickness and type of materials used in suits, as w
40、ell as their length. But that hasnt stopped researchers. They are now working on new types of goggles and swim caps. 37 The advanced high technology designs a swimsuit that can relieve muscle fatigue. 38 The lighter materials of swimsuit helped athletes won much gold medals. 39 Men and women have se
41、parate swim times in some beaches, and they cannot swim at the same time. 40 It is not appropriate to show your naked body, so people need to wear more in order to cover themselves. 41 There was a time when bathing and swimming became less popular, because people thought that public bathing and swim
42、ming helped spread the diseases. 42 The first modern swimsuits are very heavy when they are wet, which makes swimming become more difficult. 43 Flannel becomes the most popular material for making the swimsuits. 44 Women wanted more fashionable swim garment when they began to share the beach with me
43、n. 45 Some bodysuits had no seaming, which helps to prevent the resistance of water. 46 In ancient time, men swam in order to be a warrior, and some people swam with naked body. Section C 46 According to two recent research papers, sugar is toxic enough to kill mice and is the drug of choice for lab
44、oratory rats, which prefer it to cocaine. Now it has been called “ the most dangerous drug of this time“ by Paul van der Velpent, head of Amsterdams health service. Velpent called for government restrictions on sugar in food and a ban on soft drinks in schools. An anti-sugar movement is emerging. En
45、docrinologist Dr Robert Lustigs lecture, Sugar: The Bitter Truth, has picked up four million views on YouTube. The latest National Diet and Nutrition Survey shows all age groups exceeded the recommended 11% of energy coming from sugars added to foods. For children aged between 11 and 18 the mean int
46、ake was 15. 3%. Since the survey is self-reported it is likely that most people underestimate their intake. Why are we eating more? We like sugar and manufacturers have made some foods sweeter. An analysis found that Hovis wholemeal bread had doubled in sugar content between 1978 and 2013. A meta-an
47、alysis paper (that combines the results of studies) published this year found that increased intake of sugar led to weight gain. It also showed that children who had one sugary drink a day were 55% more likely to be overweight than those who did not. An accompanying editorial argued that sugar inter
48、feres with metabolic processes that protect against diabetes and heart attacks. Another study found that replacing 5% of calories from saturated fat with calories from sugars or other high-glycogenic-index carbohydrates increased the rate of heart attacks by 33%. A Princeton Review study found that
49、rats experienced changes to the dopamine and opioid receptors in their brains after being flooded with sugar. This made them sugar-dependent. The authors queried whether adults could also develop a dependency. Whatever the conclusion, it is worth cutting down on sugar. Be aware of how much your food contains. Fat-free products often have high sugar levels to make them tasty, so try to avoid them. More sleep will also make you less likely to crave sugar. Recommended limits are 50g a day in a 2 000-c
