1、大学英语四级（ 2013年 12月考试改革适用）模拟试卷 55及答案与解析 一、 Part I Writing 1 For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write a short essay. You should start your essay with a brief description of the picture and then express your views on grasping opportunity. You should write at least 120 words but no more than 18
2、0 words.Section A （ A） Look after the dog. （ B） Not look after the dog. （ C） Look after the dog if she is paid. （ D） Find someone to look after the dog. （ A） She is cheerful. （ B） She has nothing. （ C） She feels bored. （ D） She is special. （ A） The exams will be held on Thursday. （ B） There could be
3、 a power out on Thursday. （ C） The exams will be postponed if there is power failure. （ D） The exams wont be postponed unless there is power failure. （ A） The concert was really a time-wasting one. （ B） The concert tickets could be booked online. （ C） There were not enough chairs for people to sit o
4、n. （ D） There were too many people lining up for the tickets. （ A） The man likes the coat but not the colour. （ B） The man likes the coat, particularly the colour. （ C） The man doesnt like the coat except for its colour. （ D） The man doesnt like the coat, especially its colour. （ A） Find a bike shop
5、 thats open all hours. （ B） Find a place to watch a midnight show. （ C） Go to a grocery store to buy some food. （ D） Go to a place to eat thats open all hours. （ A） The test will probably cover the notes. （ B） The test will probably not cover the notes. （ C） The course will need notes for the second
6、 part. （ D） The course doesnt need notes for the second part. （ A） Colleagues. （ B） Classmates. （ C） Teacher and student. （ D） Employer and employee. （ A） He wants to become a cook. （ B） He hopes to go on to graduate school. （ C） He wants to travel around the world. （ D） Hed like to work at a hotel.
7、 （ A） History. （ B） French. （ C） Computer Science. （ D） Hotel Management. （ A） She has a part-time job. （ B） She received a scholarship. （ C） Her parents pay for it. （ D） She is working as a tourist guide. （ A） At a bakery. （ B） In a library. （ C） At a restaurant. （ D） At a travel agency. （ A） He ca
8、n learn knowledge from it. （ B） He can make the classes more creative. （ C） He can share his experience with the others. （ D） He enjoys seeing the improvement of students. （ A） They are more interesting. （ B） They are more tired of studying. （ C） They are more highly motivated in class. （ D） They ar
9、e burdened with passing all examinations. （ A） To make the class more active. （ B） To leave personal feelings behind. （ C） To give wonderful lectures. （ D） To make friends with students. Section B （ A） Look at them sadly. （ B） Touch them gently. （ C） Keep them company. （ D） Play games with them. （ A
10、） She disliked the speakers dad. （ B） She felt scary for her mistake. （ C） She loved playing hide-and-seek. （ D） She would eat anything when hungry. （ A） She was loved by everybody she met. （ B） She went everywhere with the family. （ C） She played games with anyone she liked. （ D） She was treated as
11、 a member of the family. （ A） Mexico. （ B） The US. （ C） The UK. （ D） Canada. （ A） Passing a test to write travel guides. （ B） Finishing her work as soon as possible. （ C） Checking all the facts to be written in the guides. （ D） Working in different places to collect information. （ A） She is successf
12、ul in her job. （ B） She finds her life full of stresses. （ C） She spends half of her time traveling. （ D） She is especially interested in museums. （ A） He did not have any luggage with him. （ B） That made him easier to be recognised. （ C） They were the uniforms for air couriers. （ D） His backpack ha
13、d no room for his clothes. （ A） He organises international flights for tourists. （ B） He travels around the world with cheap tickets. （ C） He delivers papers and packages to foreign countries. （ D） He manages a business company in foreign countries. （ A） It costs less. （ B） It is flexible. （ C） It s
14、aves time. （ D） It grows fast. （ A） He has to wear two pairs of jeans. （ B） He cannot take any luggage with him. （ C） He saves little money from the travel. （ D） He cannot decide when and where to travel. Section C 26 Self-motivation is basically the ability to get yourself to take action whether yo
15、u feel like it or not. Many people have a【 B1】 _when it comes to motivation in general. It can【 B2】 _being lazy or unproductive, but in actuality, no one is really lazy. If you are not capable of getting yourself to do certain things that you know you should be doing, its because you dont have a str
16、ong enough reason to do it. What can you do to help【 B3】 _your self-motivation? One thing you can do is start giving yourself stronger reasons to be performing certain things such as【 B4】_your goals. Once you have a goal and strong enough reasons to take action, your self-motivation will automatical
17、ly start to increase. Your reasons can be both positive and【 B5】 _. You can either do something because you want to get【 B6】 _out of completing a task or you want to avoid the【 B7】 _of not completing the task. Either way, the reasons need to be strong enough to move you into action. The bottom line
18、is that if you want to increase your self-motivation, you will need to start designing a more compelling future for yourself.【 B8】 _powerful reasons why you should take action. When you have a strong purpose and【 B9】 _feed your mind with self-improvement motivation material, you will start to become
19、 more and more【 B10】 _and will begin to take more action. 27 【 B1】 28 【 B2】 29 【 B3】 30 【 B4】 31 【 B5】 32 【 B6】 33 【 B7】 34 【 B8】 35 【 B9】 36 【 B10】 Section A 36 Young people tend to be critical of their parents at times and blame them for most of the misunderstandings between them. I think it is tr
20、ue that parents often underestimate their teenage children and also【 C1】 _how they themselves felt when young. For example, young people like doing things on spur of the moment: it is one of their ways of showing that they can accept a【 C2】 _. Older people worry more【 C3】_; most of them plan things
21、ahead, at least in the back of their minds, and do not like their plans to be upset by something【 C4】 _. So my advice to you is this: when you want to borrow the family car or get your mother to mend something for you, you will have better success if you can possibly ask in advance. Young people als
22、o make it harder for their parents to trust them because they like to【 C5】 _them. They say things like “Everybody we know drives at ninety miles an hour“, or “Weve all decided we wont study for our final examinations its【 C6】_.“ Young people often irritate their parents with their choices in clothes
23、 and hairstyles, in entertainers and music. This is not their main【 C7】 _. They feel cut off from the adult world, into which they have not yet been accepted. So they【 C8】 _a culture and society of their own. Then, if it turns out that their music or entertainers or vocabulary or clothes or hairstyl
24、es irritate their parents, this gives them【 C9】_enjoyment. They feel they are【 C10】 _. at least in a small way, and that they are leaders in style and taste. A)create I)shock B)worse J)easily C)additional K)benefit D)superior L)motive E)challenge M)forget F)recall N)helpful G)importantly O)useless H
25、)unexpected 37 【 C1】 38 【 C2】 39 【 C3】 40 【 C4】 41 【 C5】 42 【 C6】 43 【 C7】 44 【 C8】 45 【 C9】 46 【 C10】 Section B 46 Why Companies Now Favour Cash A)Cheap and plentiful credit has powered the US economy for decades. But since the financial crisis of 2008, America has gone on a drastic debt diet. Just
26、 as families are paying down credit-card debt and building up cash reserves, businesses large and small are learning to operate in an environment where cash once again is king. The economic shift has been dramatic; bank lending has dropped at a frightening rate. In 2009 the banking system notched(刻数
27、 )the largest decline in loans in the history of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. Meanwhile, the amount of commercial and industrial loans has fallen 19 percent since the fall of 2008 back to the level of late 2006. Even the financial sector has cut way back on debt. B)Sorry about credit b
28、ubble, both companies and individuals spent and invested based on expectations of what they could borrow. Now theyre hoarding cash. The savings rate, near zero in 2007, rose to 3.3 percent in January. At the end of the September in 2009, the 376 members of the S&P 500 that arent utilities or financi
29、al firms had a record $820 billion in cash in their coffers(金库 ), up more than 20 percent from the year before, according to Standard & Poors. C)The conventional wisdom holds that the tightening of credit is an obstacle to recovery. And for many businesses, especially small ones, the inability to pa
30、y off old debt or open new lines of credit can hinder expansion plans. But the economy isnt fueled by debt alone. After all, in 2009, the economy experienced a sharp turn, from shrinking at a rate of 6.4 percent in the first quarter to growing at a rate of 5.9 percent in the fourth quarter all while
31、 private-sector credit reduced. More broadly, the embrace of cash could be beneficial. During the go-go years, it was common to hear theorists talk about the “discipline of debt“. D)On paper, high debt loads force managers(and homeowners)to make tough, swift decisions to stay solvent(有偿付能力的 ). Break
32、 the contact, and you lose the company(or the house). In reality, overextended(周转不灵的 )borrowers are more likely to walk away from mortgages, or push companies into Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Americans are now discovering that cash exerts a superior discipline. The real discipline of cash may
33、be that it causes executives, consumers, and investors to think twice and to think about the long-term consequences before spending. The need for instant satisfaction is part of what created the current mess. E)The ability to adapt rapidly remains one of Americas competitive advantages. And since th
34、e onset of the financial crisis, both consumers and businesses have embraced the new reality. After digging themselves out of $20,000 in debt in 2007, Susannah Fater, her husband David a district manager at Staples and their four children did something radical: they became an all-cash household. “Bi
35、lls like groceries, gas, and allowance are taken out every month and put into envelopes so that we know exactly where we are financially,“ says Susannah. Consumer-oriented firms have pivoted(以 为中心旋转 )rapidly to service new pay-as-you-go consumers like the Faters. EL, based in Tallahassee, Fla., and
36、founded in 2005, offers its 75,000 customers the ability to buy products on installment plans(up to 13 months)from 1,000 merchants, including Apple and A. The typical purchase is an electronics item with an average cost of $440 and a four-month payment term. Cofounder Sergio Pinon notes the rise of
37、a category of customers eLayaway calls “planners“, who pay for next winters snowblowers this summer. F)Texas electricity provider First Choice Power in January launched a prepaid service called Control First. “In Texas, there are about a million households who have slim credit or no credit at all,“
38、says company president Brian Hayduk. Without requiring a deposit or credit, customers are permitted to prepurchase a set amount of electricity say $100 per month. The company installs a smart meter that lets people know how much theyve used which spurs customers to manage their energy use more intel
39、ligently. G)The rise of the cash economy has made businesses hesitant to make the type of capital expenditures they used to fund with debt big-ticket items like factories, expensive equipment, and new buildings. But it has made them more receptive to companies that offer efficiency and saving with l
40、ittle money down. At Boston-based EnerNOC, revenues nearly doubled last year. EnerNOC has two lines of business. On behalf of electric utilities, they supports companies that agree to reduce electricity use at times of peak demand in exchange for cash payments. And it installs submeters to measure b
41、uildings energy consumption in microscopic detail, and then suggests ways to reduce demand. “We sell the software and guarantee well identify energy-savings opportunities worth twice what they pay us on an annual basis,“ says CEO Tim Healy. “Its very capital-light.“ In 2009 the number of company emp
42、loyees rose from about 330 to more than 400, and it projected revenue growth of $75 million(nearly 40 percent)in 2010. H)Before the deluge, companies and investors chose the easy path of gaining returns by using their balance sheet theyd borrow money to pay a dividend, or to purchase another company
43、. But financial engineering has given way to business engineering. Kohlberg Kravis & Roberts, the huge leveraged-buyout firm that made profits through financial strategies during the credit boom, has built up a staff of in-house retail executives who work with companies it owns, such as Dollar Gener
44、al and Toys “R“ Us. Just as there are fewer no-money-down mortgages in the housing market, many of todays buyouts are significantly less leveraged. Since transactions that use less debt and more cash are less likely to go bankrupt, the greater use of cash is a basis for a more stable, more rational
45、financial system. Stephen Kaplan, a professor at the University of Chicago business school, notes that returns are poor for buyout funds that make highly leveraged acquisitions during credit booms. When cheap debt is available on easy terms, “they do more marginal deals.“ I)Of course, a fine line se
46、parates conservation from hoarding, and careful saving from miserliness(吝啬 ). For many financial executives, the wholesale collapse of the credit markets in the fall of 2008 induced the same reaction that the anti-drug movie Scared Straight used to create among teenagers. “Theres a greater focus on
47、liquidity and the preservation of cash for the unexpected than you had in the past,“ says Seth Gardner, executive director of the Centre for Financial Excellence at Duke Universitys Fuqua School of Business. Yet there are signs that corporate America is beginning to loosen the purse strings. Investm
48、ent in equipment and software rebounded at an 18.4 percent annual rate in the fourth quarter of 2009. And S&P analyst Howard Silverblatt predicts that companies will start utilising their record cash piles on stock buybacks, dividends, and capital expenditures once theyre convinced the recovery is r
49、eal. 47 Peoples traditional idea about the credit is that the tightening of it prevents the economic recovery. 48 When it comes to Kohlberg Kravis & Roberts, it is said that its profit during credit booms is made through its financial policy. 49 If companies are overextended in reality, they may get the bankruptcy protection. 50 According to Howard Silverblatt, if companies are sure of the economic recovery, the
