2014年12月英语四级考试真题（第3套）.docx

2014年12月四级真题(第3套) Part I Writing (30 minutes. Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write a short essay about a classmate of yours who has influenced you most in college. You should state the reasons and write at least 120 words but no more. than 180 words. 注意：此部分试题请在答题卡1上作答。 Part II Listening Comprehension (30 minutes) Section A Directions: In this section, you will hear 8 short conversations and 2 long conversations. At the end of each conversation, one or more questions will be asked about what was said. Both the conversation and the questions will be spoken only once. After each question there will be a pause. During the pause, you must read the four choices marked A., B., C. and D., and decide which is the best answer. Then mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 1 with a single line through the centre. 注意：此部分试题请在答题卡1上作答。 1. A. Give his ankle a good rest. B. Treat his injury immediately. C. Continue his regular activities. D. Be careful when climbing steps. 2. A. On a train. B. On a plane. C. In a theater. D. In a restaurant. 3. A. A tragic accident. B. A sad occasion. C. Smith's unusual life story. D. Smith's sleeping problem. 4. A. Review the details of all her lessons. 、 B. Compare notes with his classmates. C. Talk with her about his learning problems, D. Focus on the main points of her lectures. 5. A. The man blamed the woman for being careless. B. The man misunderstood the woman's apology. C. The woman offered to pay for the man's coffee. D. The woman spilt coffee on the man's jacket. 6. A. Extremely tedious. B. Hard to understand. C. Lacking a good plot. D. Not worth seeing twice. 7. A. Attending every lecture. B. Doing lots of homework. C. Reading very exteusively. D. Using test-taking strategies. 8. A. The digital TV system will offer different programs. B. He is eager to see what the new system is like. C. He thinks it unrealistic to have 500 channels. D. The new TV system may not provide anything better. Questions 9 to 12 are based on the conversation you have just heard. 9. A. A notice by the electricity board. B. Ads promoting electric appliances. C. The description of a thief in disguise. D. A new policy on pensioners' welfare. 10. A. Speaking with a proper accent. B. Wearing an official uniform. C. Making friends with them. D. Showing them his ID. 11. A. To be on the alert when being followed. B. Not to leave senior citizens alone at home. C. Not to let anyone in without an appointment. D. To watch out for those from the electricity board. 12. A. She was robbed near the parking lot. B. All her money in the bank disappeared. C. The pension she had just drawn was stolen. D. She was knocked down in the post office. Questions 13 to 15 are based on the conversation you have just heard. 13. A. Marketing consultancy. B. Professional accountancy. C. Luxury hotel management. D. Business conference organization. 14. A. Having a good knowledge of its customs. B. Knowing some key people in tourism. C. Having been to the country before. D. Being able to speak Japanese. 15. A. It will bring her potential into full play. B. It will involve lots of train travel. C. It will enable her to improve her Chinese. D. It will give her more chances to visit Japan. Section B Directions: In this section, you will hear 3 short passages. At the end of each passage, you will hear some questions. Both the passage and the questions will be spoken only once. After you hear a question, you must choose the best answer from the four choices marked A., B., C. and D. Then mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 1 with a single line through the centre. 注意：此部分试题请在答题卡1上作答。 Passage One Questions l6 t018 are based on the passage you have just heard． 16．A. The lack of time． B.The quality of life． C.The frustrations at work． D.The pressure on worldng families． 17．A.They were just as busy as people of today． B.They saw the importance of conecfive efforts． C.They didn’t complain as much as modem mail． D.They lived a hard life by hunting and gatherin9． 18．A. To look for creative ideas of awarding employees． B.To explore strategies for lowering production costs． C.To seek new approaches to dealing with complaints． D.To fmd effective ways to give employees flexibility． Passage Two Questions l9 t021 are based on the passage you have just heard． 19．A.Family violence． B.The Great Depression． C.Her fathers disloyalty． D.Her mother’S bad temper． 20．A.His advanced age． C.His improved financial condition． B.His children’S efforts． D.His second wife’s positive influence． 21．ALove is blind． B.Love breeds love． C.Divorce often has disastrous consequences． D.Happiness is hard to fmd in blended families． Passage Three Questions 22 to 25 are based on the passage you have just heard. 22. A. It was located in a park. B. Its owner died of a heart attack. C. It went bankrupt all of a sudden. D. Its potted plants were for lease only. 23. A. Planting some trees in the greenhouse. B. Writing a want ad to a local newspaper. C. Putting up a Going Out of Business sign. D. Helping a customer select some purchases. 24. A. Opening an office in the new office park. B. Keeping better relations with her company. C. Developing fresh business opportunities. D. Building a big greenhouse of his own. 25. A. Owning the greenhouse one day. B. Securing a job at the office park. C. Cultivating more potted plants. D. Finding customers out of town. Section C Directions: In this section, you will hear a passage three times. When the passage is read for the first time, you should listen carefully for its general idea. V/hen the passage is read for the second time, you are required to fill in the blanks with the exact words you have just heard. Finally, when the passage is read for the third time, you should check what you have written. 注意：此部分试题请在答题卡1上作答。 We're now witnessing the emergence of an advanced economy based on information and knowledge.Physical labor, raw materials, and capital are no longer the key (26. __________in the creation of wealth. Now, the (27. __________raw material in our economy is knowledge. Tomorrow's wealth depends on the development and exchange of knowledge. And (28. __________entering the workforce offer their knowledge, not their muscles. Knowledge workers get paid for their education and their ability to learn. Knowledge workers(29. __________ mind work. They deal with symbols: words, figures, and data. What does all this mean for you? As a future knowledge worker, you can expect to be(30. __________ , processing, as well as exchanging information. (31. __________three out of four jobs involve some form of mind work, and that number will increase sharply in the future. Management and employees alike will be malting decisions in such areas as (32. __________ development, quality control, and customer satisfaction. In the new world of work, you can look forward to being in constant training to acquire new skills that will help you (33. __________ improved technologies and procedures. You can also expect to be taking greater control Of your career. Gone are the nine-to-five jobs, lifetime security, predictable promotions, and even the (34. __________ workplace, as you are familiar with. Don'texpect the companies will (35. __________ a clearly-defined career path. And don't wait for,someone to "empower" you. You have to empower yourseff. Part III Reading Comprehension (40 minutes. Section A Directions: In this section, there is a passage with ten blanks. You are required to select one word for each blank from a list of choices given in a word bank following the passage. Read the passage through carefully before making your choices. Each choice in the bank is identified by a letter. Please mark the corresponding letter for each item on Answer Sheet 2 with a single line through the centre. You may not use any of the words in the bank more than once. Questions 36to 45 are based on the following passage. One principle of taxation, called the benefits principle, states that people should pay taxes based on the benefits they receive from government services. This principle tries to make public goods similar to 36 goods. It seems reasonable that a person who often goes to the movies pays more in 37 for movie tickets than a person who rarely goes. And 38 , a person who gets great benefit from a public good should pay more for it than a person who gets little benefit. The gasoline tax, for instance, is sometimes 39 using the benefits principle. In some states, 40 from the gasoline tax are used to build and maintain roads. Because those who buy gasoline are the same people who use the roads, the gasoline tax might be viewed as a 41 way to pay for this government service. The benefits principle can also be used to argue that wealthy citizens should pay higher taxes than poorer ones, 42 because the wealthy benefit more from public services. Consider, for example, the benefits of police protection from 43 . Citizens with much to protect get greater benefit from police than those with less to protect. Therefore, according to the benefits principle, the wealthy should 44 more than the poor to the cost of 45 the police force. The same argument can be used for many other public services, such as fire protection, national defense, and the court system. 注意：此部分试题请在答题卡2上作答。 A. adapt B. contribute C. exerting D. expenses E. fair F. justified G. maintaining H. private I. provided J. revenues K. similarly L. simply M. theft N. total O. wealth Section B Directions: In this section, you are going to read a passage with ten statements attached to it. Each statement contains information given in one of the paragraphs. Identify the paragraph from which the information is derived. You may choose a paragraph more than once. Each paragraph is marked with a letter. Answer the questions by marking the coresponding letter on Answer Sheet 2. Grow up Colored [A] You wouldn't know Piedmont anymore―my Piedmont, I mean—the town in West Virginia where I learned to be a colored boy. [B] The 1950s in Piedmont was a time to remember, or at least to me. People were always proud to be from Piedmont—lying at the foot of a mountain, on the banks of the mighty Potomac. We knew God gave America no more beautiful location. I never knew colored people anywhere who were crazier about mountains and water, flowers and trees, fishing and hunting. For as long as anyone could remember, we could outhunt, outshoot, and outswim the white boys in the valley. [C] The social structure of Piedmont was something we knew like the back of our hands. It was animmigrant town; white Piedmont was Italian and Irish, with a handful of wealthy WASPs (盎格鲁撒克逊裔的白人新教徒. on East Hampshire Street, and "ethnic" neighborhoods of working-class peopleeverywhere else, colored and white. [D] For as long as anyone can remember, Piedmont's character has been completely bound up with the Westvaco paper mill: its prosperous past and doubtful future. At first glance, the town is a typical dying mill center. Many once beautiful buildings stand empty, evidencing a bygone time of spirit and pride. The big houses on East Hampshire Street are no longer proud, as they were when I was a kid. [E] Like the Italians and the Irish, most of the colored people migrated to Piedmont at the turn of the 20th century to work at the paper mill, which opened in 1888. All the colored men at the paper mill worked on "the platform"—loading paper into trucks until the craft unions were finally integrated in 1968. Loading is what Daddy did every working day of his life. That's what almost every colored grown-up I knew did. [F] Colored people lived in three neighborhoods that were clearly separated. Welcome to the ColoredZone, a large stretched banner could have said. And it felt good in there, like walking around your house in bare feet and underwear, or snoring (打鼾. right out loud on the couch in front of the TV—enveloped by the comforts of home, the warmth of those you love. [G] Of course, the colored world was not so much a neighborhood as a condition of existence. And though our own world was seemingly self-contained, it impacted on the white world of Piedmont in almost every direction. Certainly, the borders of our world seemed to be impacted on when some white man or woman showed up where he or she did not belong, such as at the black Legion Hail. Our space was violated when one of them showed up at a dance or a party. The rhythms would be off. The music would sound not quite right. Everybody would leave early. [HI Before 1955, most white people were just shadowy presences in our world, vague figures of power like remote bosses at the mill or clerks at the bank. There were exceptions, of course, the white people who would come into our world in routine, everyday ways we all understood. Mr. Mail Man, Mr. Insurance Man, Mr. White-and-Chocolate Milk Man, Mr. Landlord Man, Mr. Police Man: we called white people by their trade, like characters in a mystery play. Mr. Insurance Man would come by every other week to collect payments on college or death policies, sometimes 50 cents or less. [I] "It's no disgrace to be colored," the black entertainer Bert Williams famously observed early in the century, "but it is awfully inconvenient." For most of my childhood, we couldn't eat in restaurants or sleep in hotels, we couldn't use certain bathrooms or try on clothes in stores. Mama insisted that we dress up when we went to shop. She was carefully dressed when she went to clothing stores, and wore white pads called shields under her arms so her dress or blouse would show no sweat. "We'd like to try this on," she'd say carefully, uttering her words precisely and properly. "We don't buy clothes we can't try on," she'd say when they declined, and we'd walk out in Mama's dignified (有尊严的) manner. She preferred to shop where we had an account and where everyone knew who she was. [J] At the Cut-Rate Drug Store, no one colored was allowed to sit down at the counter or tables, with one exception: my father. I don't know for certain why Carl Dadisman, the owner, wouldn't stop Daddy from sitting down. But I believe it was in part because Daddy was so light-colored, and in part because, during his shift at the phone company, he picked up orders for food and coffee for the operators. Colored people were supposed to stand at the counter, get their food to go, and leave. Even when Young Doc Bess would set up the basketball team with free Cokes after one of many victories, the colored players had to stand around and drink out of paper cups while the white players and ch