1、大学英语四级（ 2013年 12月考试改革适用）模拟试卷 240及答案与解析 一、 Part I Writing 1 For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write an essay commenting on the statement “We can learn more from people at a higher level than us (like teachers) than from people who are at the same level as us.“ Do you agree or disagree? You
2、 can cite examples to illustrate your viewpoint. You should write at least 120 words but no more than 180 words. 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 red
3、uction of tropical forests. （ B） The increase of global temperature. （ C） Emergence 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. （
4、D） She hit the man in mask with a gun hard. （ A） The suspects escaped from the police. （ 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 us
5、ers toes. （ C） They are easily broken in use. （ D） They endanger junior children. （ 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）
6、It made apologies to all Australian victims. （ C） It offered free spare parts to make chairs safe. （ D） It gave compensation to Australian claimers. Section B （ A） Read the papers. （ B） Sort out letters. （ C） Go for a jog. （ D） Have a meeting. （ A） Meeting his deputy. （ B） Dealing with the post. （ C
7、） Classifying letters of emergency. （ D） Visiting the companys plant. （ A） Having regular morning meetings. （ B） Going shopping with his wife. （ C） Having evening dinner at home. （ D） Having interview with journalists. （ A） Have monthly board meetings with shareholders. （ B） Have a dinner engagement
8、 with customers. （ C） Plan the agenda for the next few days. （ D） Have weekly management committee meetings. （ A） He wants to find out their professors phone number. （ B） He wants to help the woman with her math homework. （ C） He wants to seek help in doing his math homework. （ D） He wants to know w
9、hat the math assignment is. （ A） Tonight （ B） In two hours. （ C） Tomorrow. （ D） In a few minutes. （ A） He didnt expect the assignment to be so hard. （ B） He has already consulted his professor. （ C） He and the woman often work together. （ D） He is generally a good student. （ A） She thinks its too la
10、te to help him. （ B） She agrees to work with him. （ C） She offers to do the assignment for him. （ D） She will ask help from their professor. Section C （ A） Resolve tough social and economic problems. （ B） Raise the major international challenges. （ C） Collect different world views together. （ D） Enc
11、ourage people to seek happiness. （ A） It will help to look at the role of governments in culture. （ B） It will create a new platform to protect environment. （ C） It will help society to develop and grow. （ D） It will solve the pressing economic, social and environmental issues. （ A） Think about how
12、to connect people around the world. （ B） To attract large number of international talent together. （ C） Discuss how cultural policy can be enriched. （ D） To share ideas of tackling cultural problems. （ A） It is organized by Scotlands government. （ B） It strengthens friendships among nations. （ C） It
13、 may be the greatest cultural festival. （ D） It is a unique gathering in the world. （ A） How to paint something. （ B） Who the painter Grand Wood was. （ C） Why a painting is popular. （ D） Simple farmers living in America. （ A） Because the design was too strong. （ B） Because the painting looked like a
14、 photograph. （ C） Because the painting was too simple. （ D） Because the painting seemed to laugh at farmers. （ A） The painting was making fun of people. （ B） The painting was a symbol of the US. （ C） The painting expressed an understanding of people. （ D） The painting showed the strength of American
15、 farmers. （ A） All languages have equal values. （ B） Some languages need more efforts to learn. （ C） Some languages are certainly more important. （ D） English is the most important language worldwide. （ A） They predominate the English world. （ B） They are unable to adapt to the competitive world. （
16、C） They invest more time in learning a foreign language. （ D） They may face a depressing economic future. （ A） To do business effectively. （ B） To meet others requirement. （ C） To improve linguistic skills. （ D） To promote proficiency in English. Section A 26 Back in the carefree days of the Noughti
17、es boom, Britains youngsters were swept along by the buy-now-pay-later culture embraced by consumers up and down the country. During a decade of near-full employment, many【 C1】 _quickly from one joband one credit card to another, and rainy days were such a distant memory that they【 C2】 _seemed worth
18、 saving for. But with the supply of cheap credit【 C3】 _up and a generation of school and university leavers about to【 C4】 _the recession-hit job market, thousands of young people with no memory of the early 1990s recession are shocked into the【 C5】_that the world of 2014 is very different. Katie Orm
19、e, 19, who lives in Birmingham, says she has decided never to get a credit card after seeing the problems that her parents and 22-year-old sister have had with debt just one of the【 C6】 _lessons that she has had to learn. Orme finished her A-levels a year ago, and has been【 C7】 _for a job and living
20、 at home with her parents ever since. She has had to sign on to support herself and is now on a 12-week internship (实习 期 ) at the Princes Trust to improve her【 C8】_. The Trust says that the number of calls from【 C9】 _people such as Orme has shot up by 50% over six months. “Its so hard to get a job a
21、t the moment,“ she says, “its better to go and get more qualifications so when more jobs are【 C10】 _you will be better suited.“ A) anxious E) flood I) neglected M) resume B) available F) hardly J) painful N) searching C) drying G) mostly K) realization O) skipped D) dynamic H) mug L) remedy 27 【 C1】
22、 28 【 C2】 29 【 C3】 30 【 C4】 31 【 C5】 32 【 C6】 33 【 C7】 34 【 C8】 35 【 C9】 36 【 C10】 Section B 36 Music in higher education: what is it worth? A Music has found itself increasingly central in the subject controversy surrounding higher education (HE). Recent data showed the total number of Universities
23、 and Colleges Admissions Service entries to study music rose by 3.5% in the 2013 cycle, following significant increases in applications for medical-related sciences, mathematical sciences, computer sciences, engineering and economics. Yet numbers of prospective higher education applicants who studie
24、d music A-level fell last year by 7%. B Many music educators speak of feeling marginalized (边缘化 ), with their subject excluded from the Ebacc (英国文凭考试 ) and noticeably absent from the Stem grouping (science, technology, engineering and maths) absent too from the Russell Groups approved list of “facil
25、itating subjects“ (ones that will “keep a wide range of degree courses and career options open to you“). C The value of studying music in higher education in the context of the economically-charged narrative on education provided the background to a recent roundtable discussion held at the Royal Aca
26、demy of Music and involving senior figures from higher education, sixth-form education and the arts industry. All participants in the roundtable agreed that studying music at higher education equips students with a range of transferable skills that are of inestimable (不可估量的 ) value in the workplace.
27、 Music education and cultural value D Contributing under the Chatham House rule, which allows comments to be reported freely, panel members began by disagreeing over the relationship between music education and cultural value. “We are beginning to look at the question of music education from the oth
28、er end of the telescope, not so much in terms of what happens during the period of education, but afterwards,“ said one contributor. E One speaker argued that the relationship between music education and cultural value was not necessarily a direct one. “Many of those who add cultural value to the co
29、untry do so because there is value here already. Our cultural value is increased by a critical mass coming from all over the world that wants to be part of our scene. The role musical education plays in cultural value, or to put it crudely, what we are producing in terms of the economy, is probably
30、falling rather than increasing.“ This comment was contested by another member of the panel, who cited the increasing numbers of foreign students studying music at UK institutions, and personal evidence from those who claimed that paying more to study in the UK was worth it for the extra value they g
31、ained from being educated here. Another pointed to the legally binding commitments made by government to promote musical participation in 2011-12 and, more recently, the National Plan for Music. F However, others around the table did acknowledge that UK institutions lacked the political backing enjo
32、yed by their European peers or the financial power of America, “only just paying the bills on the back of a British mess of fees, poor fund and a scratchy targeted portion of HE funding,“ as one panellist put it. Instrumental or natural? G The discussion over what skills music graduates hold, both o
33、n academic or vocational courses, was noticeably more one-sided. High-end ability in collaboration, analysis, work ethic, sympathy, innovation and performing well under pressure were cited by numerous contributors as those that were compulsory in any decent music student. “The qualities one would be
34、 after in a work-force suitable to meet the challenges of todays economy are all those found in a music graduate,“ noted one commentator. “We need to break up this myth that musicians are self-prevailing and just create more musicians,“ added anothertop city firms, accountancy organisations and comp
35、uting companies as among those who favour music graduates as potential employees. H There was growing frustration among the panel concerning both the role of higher education institutions in promoting music and the continued justification of musical study from a non-musical perspective. “Its time fo
36、r music departments to wake up and promote more clearly their value and benefits,“ said one contributor. “The value of HE music itself has been clouded by the panic over school music. We dont sell music at HE by saying it will make you more literate, or better at maths. It has an inborn value.“ I “P
37、eople in music know what highly skilled music students can do, and what music adds to the lives of people, but we keep saying society does not understand,“ added another. “Why? Either because we cant assert our own value, or because we refuse to engage with society.“ Education access J Despite gener
38、al consensus as to the inherent cultural-economic value of musical study, there was considerable discontent around the table about its accessibility. One speaker commented on the decreasing number of music students at top institutions coming from backgrounds other than “music specialist schools, and
39、 private schools“. Another complained about the lack of focus from government regarding ring-fenced (专项的 ) money for music hubs (活动中心 ) beyond 2015, pointing out the risk of increased private outsourcing, uneven regional provision and, ultimately, a situation in which only those with financial advan
40、tage can access musical training to a standard that will enable them to pursue it to higher education. K In this context, the facilitating subjects of Russell Group universities came under harsh criticism from some commentators, who argued that there was disagreement over their significance among le
41、ading universities, misunderstanding by schools and hijacking (劫持 ) by government in the latest round of league tables. This, two speakers agreed, was directing first generation students away from music at higher education by disconnecting the subject from a perspective on higher education dominated
42、 by tuition fees and employability. L A general note of warning was sounded by one about the upcoming loss of students from postgraduate study in the next five years as a result of financial pressures, and all agreed that higher education departments needed to do more to just utter the value of musi
43、c in a public forum. “We need to reconnect music with the world of ideas,“ one panelist concluded. “We can pull people into music through linking the ideas, science, film and literature that surround the context of musical creation. We must not fall back into isolation, but rather communicate the ob
44、vious value of music.“ 37 Panel members in the discussion had different opinions about the relationship between music education and cultural value. 38 Compared with their European and American peers, UK institutions lack enough political and financial support. 39 Last year, the number of students wh
45、o study music A-level decreased. 40 Russell Groups facilitating subjects received severe criticism as they are driving students away from music study in higher education. 41 The value of music study in higher education shouldnt be justified from a non-musical point of view. 42 More and more foreign
46、students come to UK universities to study music. 43 The absence of music subject from Ebacc and Stem grouping gives some music educators a sense of marginalization. 44 Its warned that the postgraduate students who study music might decrease in the next five years. 45 Collaboration and innovation are
47、 among the skills that decent music students must hold. 46 It is believed by numerous people that the accessibility of musical study is far from satisfying. Section C 46 Hollywood has a message for scientists: If you want something thats 100% accurate in every way, go watch a documentary. The thing
48、is, when it comes to movies, narrative wins. The writers job is to get the characters right, not the science, says Tse, who cowrote Watchmen, one of last years most-anticipated superhero films. It annoys him, too, when things dont make sense. He spent a lot of time and energy trying to find a fix fo
49、r a logical problem in Watchmen that one character, Dan, uses a completely obvious password to hack into the computer of Adrian, who is supremely intelligent. But for practical reasons, that kind of problem often just cant be fixed. Maybe it would take too long, in an already long movie, or distract too much from the narrative, or cost too much to shoot. Writers have faced similar problems with the TV show Heroes. The series follows a group of characters that have acquir
