1、大学英语四级（阅读）练习试卷 8及答案与解析 Section B Directions: There are 2 passages in this section. Each passage is followed by some questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A, B, C and D. You should decide on the best choice. 0 The predictability of our mortality rates is s
2、omething that has long puzzled social scientists. After all, there is no natural reason why 2,500 people should accidentally shoot themselves each year or why 7,000 should drown or 55,000 die in their cars. No one establishes a quota(配额 ) for each type of death. It just happens that they follow a co
3、nsistent pattern year after year. A few years ago a Canadian psychologist named Gerald Wilde became interested in this phenomenon. He noticed that mortality rates for violent and accidental deaths throughout the Western world have remained oddly static throughout the whole of the century, despite al
4、l the technological advances and increases in safety standards that have happened in that time. Wilde developed an interesting theory called “risk homeostasis(自我平衡 )“. According to this theory, people instinctively live with a certain level of risk. When something is made safer, people will get arou
5、nd the measure in some way to reassert the original level of danger. If, for instance, they are required to wear seat belts, they will feel safer and thus will drive a little faster and a little more recklessly, thereby statistically canceling out the benefits that the seat belt confers. Other studi
6、es have shown that where an intersection is made safer. the accident rate invariably falls there but rises to a compensating level elsewhere along the same stretch of road. it appears, then, that we have an innate need for danger. In all events, it is becoming clearer and clearer to scientists that
7、the factors influencing our lifespan are far more subtle and complex than had been previously thought. It now appears that if you wish to live a long life, it isnt simply a matter of adhering to certain precautions: eating the right foods, not smoking, driving with care. You must also have the fight
8、 attitude. Scientists at the Duke University Medical Center made a 15-year study of 500 persons personalities and found, somewhat to their surprise, that people with a suspicious or mistrustful nature die prematurely far more often than people with a sunny disposition. Looking on the bright side, it
9、 seems, can add years to your life span. 1 What social scientists have long felt puzzled about is _. （ A） why a quota for each type of death has not come into being （ B） why the mortality rate can not be predicted （ C） why the death toll remains stable year after year （ D） why people lose their live
10、s every year for this or that mason 2 In Ins research, Gerald Wilde finds that technological advances and increases in safety standards _. （ A） have achieved no effect in reducing the number of deaths （ B） have helped to solve the problem of so high death rate （ C） have oddly accounted for mortality
11、 rates in the past century （ D） have reduced mortality rates for violent and accidental deaths 3 According to the theory of “risk homeostasis“, some traffic accidents result from _. （ A） our innate desire for risk （ B） our fast and reckless driving （ C） our instinctive interest in speeding （ D） our
12、ignorance of seat belt benefits 4 By saying “.statistically canceling out the benefits that the seat belt confers“ (Lines 10, Para. 2), the author means that _. （ A） deaths form wearing seat belts are the same as those from not wearing them （ B） wearing seat belts does not have any benefits from the
13、 statistic point of view （ C） deaths form other reasons counterbalance the benefits of wearing seat belts （ D） wearing seat belts does not necessarily reduce death from truffle accidents 5 Which of the following may contribute to a longer life span? （ A） Eating the food low In fat and driving with g
14、reat care. （ B） Cultivating an optimistic personality and never losing heart. （ C） Showing adequate suspicion to others. （ D） Looking on the bright side and developing a balanced level of risk. 5 In 1997, devotees of home electronics eagerly awaited the DVD player, a new device that could play movie
15、s without videotape, and with greater clarity. It caught on even faster than CD music players and within four years, DVD movies surpassed VHS tapes in sales. The DVDs success is just on example of a historic shift from analog to digital technologies. They began with computing and are now spreading t
16、o industries from banking to publishing. Products and services are shedding the limits of their physical form to become encoded information that never degrades, can be reproduced perfectly and distributed around the world in minutes, or less. Another example is photography: by the end of this year,
17、tile number of images captured digitally each day is expected to surpass the number of images captured on film. With digital cameras and other devices linked to personal computers, we can collect vast amounts of data, which fortunately takes up little or no closet space. Todays average personal comp
18、uter has a hard drive that can store 300 times more information than a decade ago. Technologies, such as broadband e-commerce, are expected to be the primary means of delivering entertainment and media by the end of this decade. Even life itself is increasingly digitized. The human genome(基因组 ), the
19、 recipe for our genetic makeup, has been mapped and encoded and researchers are harnessing the power of computing to accelerate the development, of new, lifesaving drugs. The implications of this broad, digital revolution are enormous, although they tend to be over-shadowed by the struggles of high-
20、tech industries to recover from the go-go years of the 1990s. Those struggles are real, yet there are reasons for optimism about a return to robust economic growth and job creation in the next several years. The digital innovations(创新 ) of the past two decades continue to bear fruit, so stay tuned f
21、or good news-digitally, of course. 6 Digital technologies really began to take form when _. （ A） information was encoded （ B） DVD technology was introduced （ C） it was used with photography （ D） used in computing 7 The example of photography is used to show _. （ A） how digital technology has replace
22、d traditional film （ B） how economical it is to use digital technology since it stores so much （ C） the enormous storage advantages of digital technology （ D） how digital technology has improved the quality of production 8 The author implies that excitement over the digital revolution may be hindere
23、d by _. （ A） die economic realities of its practicality （ B） robust economic growth （ C） economic problems of hi-tech companies （ D） ignorance of the technology 9 By using the phrase “stay tuned for good news“ (Line 5, Para. 3 ) the author wants us to _. （ A） hope that the good news wont change （ B）
24、 expect more positive innovations （ C） wait for the situation to change for the better （ D） try and be more optimistic 10 The passage is based on the authors _. （ A） experience of the changes （ B） admiration of the changes （ C） hope for changes （ D） analysis of the changes 大学英语四级（阅读）练习试卷 8答案与解析 Sect
25、ion B Directions: There are 2 passages in this section. Each passage is followed by some questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A, B, C and D. You should decide on the best choice. 【知识模块】 阅读 1 【正确答案】 C 【试题解析】 细节题。由题干关键词 social scientists和 puzzled定位到第一段。该段开
26、头提出 the predictability of our mortality rates是长期困扰科学家的问题，量后一句指出 It just happens that they follow a consistent pattern year after year(死亡人数年复一年保持稳定 )，故 C为正确选项。 【知识模块】 阅读 2 【正确答案】 A 【试题解析】 细节题。由题干定位到第二段第二句话： He noticed that mortality rates for violent and accidental deaths throughout the Western world
27、 have remained oddly static throughout the whole of the century， despite all the technological advances and increases in safety standards that have happened in that time， (尽管技术在进步，安全标准在提高，但奇怪的是，西方世界的暴力和意外死亡率在整个世纪中都保持着恒定 )，由此判断，技术进步和安全标准的提高并未降低死亡人数故 A为正确答案。 【知识模块】 阅读 3 【正确答案】 A 【试题解析】 细节题。由题干中的关键词 ri
28、sk homeostasis定位到第二段后半部分，作者先列举交通事 故的例子，然后在最后一句得出结论： It appears， then，that we have an innate need for danger，符合 A的意思。 【知识模块】 阅读 4 【正确答案】 C 【试题解析】 语义题。本句大体意思是：从数字统计的角度说， (开快车和开车鲁莽导致的死亡人数的增加 )抵消了系保险带带来的好处 (引起的死亡人数减少 )。 cancel out意思为 “抵消，对消 ”，所 MC“因为其他原因引起的死亡抵消了系保险带的好处 ”正好符合题意。 【知识模块】 阅读 5 【 正确答案】 B 【试题
29、解析】 细节题，由题干中的关键词 life span定位到最后一段结尾部分，其中提到：真正帮助人长寿的是 a sunny disposition。选项 B中的 an optimistic personality and never losing heart正是 a sunny disposition的特征，所以是正确答案。文章倒数第二句指出：疑心重的人比乐观豁达的人早逝，排除 C；文中所说的 eating the right foods并不等于摄人低脂食物，故排除 A。 D后半部分developing a balanced level of risk不对。 【知识模块】 阅读 【知识模块】 阅
30、读 6 【正确答案】 D 【试题解析】 细节题。从题干中的 take form when“成形于 之时 ”可以判断，此题考查的是 digital technologies的起源。关键词 digital technologies首先出现在第一段第三句。第四句中的 they指代的就是 digital technologies，该句话说明了其起源，即 begin with computing，选项 D的内容与 此相符。第一段第三句和第二段第一句分别指出， DVD 和 photography只是模拟技术向数字技术转变的例子而已，因此排除选项 B和 C，根据第一段末句可知道， encoded infor
31、mation that never degrades是数字技术产品的特征，因此排除选项 A。 【知识模块】 阅读 7 【正确答案】 C 【试题解析】 细节题。题干中的 the example of photography出现在第二段第一句。本题考查的是文章以摄影为例的目的是什么。从第二段第二句中的 collect vast amounts of data和第三句中的 store 300 times more information than a decade ago可知，作者要通过这个例子说明数字技术有信息存储量大的优势，这正是选项C的内容。 【知识模块】 阅读 8 【正确答案】 C 【试题解
32、析】 推断题。关键词 digital revolution出现在第三段第一句。前半句总结上文，说明了数字技术革命好的一面，后半句用 although引出其不好的一面。该句中的 over-shadowed与题干中的 hindered意思相近也就是说，是 the struggles of high-tech industries对数字技术革命造成了负面影响。而 the struggles的目的是 recover from the go-go years of the 1990s也就是下句中的 a return to robust economic growth。归根结底，这些高科技企业的经济问题对
33、数字革命的成就产生了负面影响，因此 C为正确答案。 【知识模块】 阅读 9 【正确答案】 B 【试题解析】 语义题。从第三段 最后一句中的 so可以看出，其前后两个分句是因果关系： stay tuned for good news的原因是，历经了二十年的数字技术革命 continue to bear fruit，该句中的 digitally是指 from the digital innovations。 stay tuned for 常用于广播节目或电视节目中，意思是 “请继续收听或收看 ” ，这里作者是用展望未来的口吻让读者期待 digital innovations有更多的 good ne
34、ws，因此选项 B为正确答案。 【知识模块】 阅 读 10 【正确答案】 B 【试题解析】 观点题，文章第一段以 DVD为例，引出对 a historic shift from analog to digital technologies的赞叹；第二段以 photography为例，说明了数字产品的优势以及生活数字化的好处；第三段第一句话后半句虽然谈及负面影响，但作者主要强调 digital revolution的优势。由此可见，作者在文章中主要表达了自己对数字技术变革的赞赏，因此选 B。尽管文章结尾对 the digital innovations寄予了很 大期望，但这并不是作者在本文中想要表达的主要态度，因此可以排除干扰选项 C。 【知识模块】 阅读
