2015年12月英语四级考试真题试卷(含答案)

案)

Part I Writing (30 minutes)

Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write an essay commenting on the saying \"Listening is more important than talking?\" You can cite examples to illustrate the importance of paying attention to others' opinions. You should write at least 120 words but no more than 180 words.

注意：此部分试题在答题卡1上

________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ 1.

A) They admire the courage of space explorers. B) They were going to watch a wonderful movie. C) They enjoyed the movie on space exploration. D) They like doing scientific exploration very much. 2.

A) In a school library. B) At a gift shop.

C) In the office of a travel agency. D) At a graduation ceremony. 3.

A) He used to work in the art gallery. B) He does not have a good memoiy. C) He is not interested in any part-time jobs.

D) He declined a job offer from the art gallery. 4.

A) He will be unable to attend the birthday party. B) The woman should have informed him earlier. C) He will go to the birthday party after the lecture. D) Susan has been invited to give a lecture tomorrow. 5.

A) Set a deadline for the staff to meet. B) Assign more workers to the project. C) Reward those having made good progress. D) Encourage the staff to work in small groups. 6.

A) Where she can leave her car. B) The rate for parking in Lot C. C) How far away the parking lot is. D) The way to the visitor's parking. 7.

A) He regrets missing the classes. B) He has benefited from exercise. C) He plans to take the fitness classes. D) He is looking forward to a better life. 8.

A) How to select secretaries. B) How to raise work efficiency. C) The responsibilities of secretaries.

D) The secretaries in the man's company.

Questions 9 to 11 are based on the conversation you have just heard. 9.

A) It is used by more people than English. B) It is more difficult to learn than English. C) It will be as commonly used as English. D) It will eventually become a world language. 10.

A) Its popularity with the common people. B) The effect of the Industrial Revolution. C) The influence of the British Empire. D) Its loan words from many languages. 11.

A) It has a growing number of newly coined words. B) It includes a lot of words from other languages. C) It is the largest among all languages in the world. D) It can be easily picked up by overseas travellers.

Questions 12 to 15 are based on the conversation you have just heard. 12.

A) To place an order. B) To apply for a job. C) To return some goods. D) To make a complaint. 13.

A) He works on a part-time basis for the company.

B) He has not worked in the sales department for long. C) He is not familiar with the exact details of the goods. D) He has become somewhat impatient with the woman. 14.

A) It is not his responsibility. B) It win be free for large orders. C) It depends on a number of factors. D) It costs ￡15 more for express delivery. 15.

A) Make inquiries with some other companies. B) Report the information to her superior. C) Pay a visit to the saleswoman in charge. D) Ring back when she comes to a decision.

Passage One

Questions 16 to 18 are based on the conversation you have just heard. 16.

A) No one knows for sure when they came into being. B) No one knows exactly where they were first made. C) No one knows for what purpose they were invented.

D) No one knows what they will look like in the future. 17.

A) Measure the speed of wind. B) Give warnings of danger. C) Pass on secret messages. D) Carry ropes across rivers. 18.

A) To find out the strength of silk for kites. B) To test the effects of the lightning rod. C) To prove that lightning is electricity. D) To protect houses against lightning. Passage Two

Questions 19 to 22 are based on the passage you have just heard. 19.

A) She was born with a talent for languages. B) She was trained to be an interpreter. C) She can speak several languages. D) She enjoys teaching languages. 20.

A) They want to learn as many foreign languages as possible. B) They have an intense interest in cross-cultural interactions. C) They acquire an immunity to culture shock. D) They would like to live abroad permanently. 21.

A) She became an expert in horse racing.

B) She learned to appreciate classical music.

C) She was able to translate for a German sports judge. D) She got a chance to visit several European countries. 22.

A) Take part in a cooking competition. B) Taste the beef and give her comment. C) Teach vocabulary for food in English. D) Give cooking lessons on Western food. Passage Three

Questions 23 to 25 are based on the passage you have just heard. 23.

A) He had only a third-grade education. B) He once threatened to kill his teacher. C) He often helped his mother do housework. D) He grew up in a poor single-parent family. 24. A) Stupid. B) Active. C) Brave. D) Careless. 25.

A) Watch educational TV programs only. B) Write two book reports a week. C) Help with housework. D) Keep a diary.

When you look up at the night sky, what do you see? There are other __26__ bodies out there besides the moon and stars. One of the most __27__ of these is a comet (彗星).

Comets were formed around the same time the Earth was formed. They are __28__ ice and other frozen liquids and gases. __29__ these \"dirty snowballs\" begin to orbit the sun, just as the planets do.

As a comet gets closer to the sun, some gases in it begin to unfreeze. They __30__ dust particles from the comet to form a huge cloud. As the comet gets even nearer to the sun, a solar wind blows the cloud behind the comet, thus forming its tail. The tail and the __31__ fuzzy (模糊的) atmosphere around a comet are __32__ that can help identify this __33__ in the night sky. In any given year, about a dozen known comets come close to the sun in their orbits. The average person can't see them all, of course. Usually there is only one or two a year bright enough to be seen with the __34__ eye. Comet Hale-Bopp, discovered in 1995, was an unusually bright comet. Its orbit brought it __35__ close to the Earth, within 122 million miles of it. But Hale-Bopp came a long way on its earthly visit. It won't be back for another four . 【参】 26. heavenly 27. fascinating 28. made up of 29. Now and then 30. combine with 31. generally 32. characteristics 33. phenomenon 34. naked 35. relatively

PartIII 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 36 to 45 are based on the following passage.

Scholars of the information society are divided over whether social inequality decreases or increases in an information-based society. However, they generally agree with the idea that inequality in the information society is __36__ different from that of an industrial society. As informatization progresses in society, the cause and structural nature of social inequality changes as well.

It seems that the information society __37__ the quantity of information available to the members of a society by revolutionizing the ways of using and exchanging information. But such a view is a __38__ analysis based on the quantity of information supplied by various forms of the mass media. A different __39__ is possible when the actual amount of information __40__ by the user is taken into account. In fact, the more information __41__ throughout the entire society, the wider the gap becomes between \"information haves\" and \"information have-nots\" , leading to digital divide. According to recent studies, digital divide has been caused by three major __42__: class, sex, and generation. In terms of class, digital divide exists among different types of workers and between the upper and middle classes and the lower class. With __43__ to sex, digital divide exists between men and women. The greatest gap, however, is between the Net-generation, __44__ with personal computers and the Internet, and the older generation, __45__ to an industrial society. A) accustomed B) acquired C) assembly D) attribute E) champions F) elements G) expands H) familiar I) flows J) fundamentally K) interpretation

L) passive M) regard N) respectively O) superficial

Joy: A Subject Schools Lack

Becoming educated should not require giving up pleasure.

A) When Jonathan Swift proposed, in 1729, that the people of Ireland eat their children, he insisted it would solve three problems at once: feed the hungry masses, reduce the population during a severe depression, and stimulate the restaurant business. Even as a satire (讽刺), it seems disgusting and shocking in America with its child-centered culture. But actually, the country is closer to his proposal than you might think.

B) If you spend much time with educators and policy makers, you'll hear a lot of the following words: \"standards,\" \"results,\" \"skills,\" \"self-control,\" \"accountability,\" and so on. I have visited some of the newer supposedly \"effective\" schools, where children shout slogans in order to leam self-control or must stand behind their desk when they can't sit still.

C) A look at what goes on in most classrooms these days makes it abundantly clear that when people think about education, they are not thinking about what it feels like to be a child, or what makes childhood an important and valuable stage of life in its own right.

D) I'm a mother of three, a teacher, and a developmental psychologist. So I've watched a lot of children—talking, playing, arguing, eating, studying, and being young. Here's what I've come to understand. The thing that sets children apart from adults is not their ignorance, nor their lack of skills. It's their enormous capacity for joy. Think of a 3-year-old lost in the pleasures of finding out what he can and cannot sink in the bathtub, a 5-year-old beside herself with the thrill of putting together strings of nonsensical words with her best friends, or an 11-year-old completely absorbed in a fascinating comic strip. A child's ability to become deeply absorbed in something, and derive intense pleasure from that absorption, is something adults spend the rest of their lives trying to return to.

E) A friend told me the following story. One day, when he went to get his 7-year-old son from soccer practice, his kid greeted him with a downcast face and a sad voice. The coach had criticized him for not focusing on his soccer drills. The little boy walked out of the school with his head and shoulders hanging down. He seemed wrapped in sadness. But just before he reached the car door, he suddenly stopped, crouching (蹲伏) down to peer at something on the sidewalk. His face went down lower and lower, and then, with complete joy he called out, \"Dad. Come here. This is the strangest bug I've ever seen. It has, like, a million legs. Look at this. It's amazing. \" He looked up at his father, his features overflowing with energy and delight. \"Can't we stay here for just a minute? I want to find out what he does with all those legs. This is the coolest ever. \"

F) The traditional view of such moments is that they constitute a charming but irrelevant byproduct of youth—something to be pushed aside to make room for more important qualities, like perseverance (坚持不懈), obligation, and practicality. Yet moments like this one are just the kind of intense absoiption and pleasure adults spend the rest of their lives seeking. Human lives are governed by the desire to experience joy. Becoming educated should not require giving up joy but rather lead to finding joy in new kinds of things: reading novels instead of playing with small figures, conducting

experiments instead of sinking cups in the bathtub, and debating serious issues rather than stringing together nonsense words, for example. In some cases, schools should help children find new, more grown-up ways of doing the same things that are constant sources of joy: making art, making friends, making decisions.

G) Building on a child's ability to feel joy, rather than pushing it aside, wouldn't be that hard. It would just require a shift in the education world's mindset (思维模式). Instead of trying to get children to work hard, why not focus on getting them to take pleasure in meaningful, productive activity, like making things, working with others, exploring ideas, and solving problems? These focuses are not so different from the things in which they delight.

H) Before you brush this argument aside as rubbish, or think of joy as an unaffordable luxury in a nation where there is awful poverty, low academic achievement, and high dropout rates, think again. The more horrible the school circumstances, the more important pleasure is to achieving any educational success.

I) Many of the assignments and rules teachers come up with, often because they are pressured by their administrators, treat pleasure and joy as the enemies of competence and responsibility. The assumption is that children shouldn't chat in the classroom because it hinders hard work; instead, they should leain to delay gratification (快乐) so that they can pursue abstract goals, like going to college.

J) Not only is this a boring and awful way to treat children, it makes no sense educationally. Decades of research have shown that in order to acquire skills and real knowledge in school, kids need to want to learn. You can force a child to stay in his or her seat, fill out a worksheet, or practice division. But you can't force the child to think carefully, er\\joy books, digest complex information, or develop a taste for learning. To make that happen, you have to help the child find pleasure in

learning—to see school as a source of joy.

K) Adults tend to talk about learning as if it were medicine; unpleasant, but necessary and good for you. Why not instead think of learning as if it were food—something so valuable to humans that they have evolved to experience it as a pleasure?

L) Joy should not be trained out of children or left for after-school programs. The more difficult a child's life circumstances, the more important it is for that child to find joy in his or her classroom. \"Pleasure\" is not a dirty word. And it doesn't run counter to the goals of public education. It is, in

fact, the precondition.

46. It will not be difficult to make learning a source of joy if educators change their way of thinking.

47. What distinguishes children from adults is their strong ability to derive joy from what they are doing.

48. Children in America are being treated with shocking cruelty. 49. It is human nature to seek joy in life.

50. Grown-ups are likely to think that learning to children is what medicine is to patients. 51. Bad school conditions make it all the more important to turn learning into a joyful experience. 52. Adults do not consider children's feelings when it comes to education.

53. Administrators seem to believe that only hard work will lead children to their educational goals.

54. In the so-called \"effective\" schools, children are taught self-control under a set of strict rules. 55. To make learning effective, educators have to ensure that children want to leam.

Passage One

Questions 56 to 60 are based on the following passage.

When it's five o'clock, people leave their office. The length of the workday, for many workers, is defined by time. They leave when the clock tells them they're done.

These days, the time is everywhere-, not just on clocks or watches, but on cell-phones and computers. That may be a bad thing, particularly at work. New research shows that clock-based work schedules hinder morale (士气) and creativity.

Clock-timers organize their day by blocks of minutes and hours. For example: a meeting from 9 a. m. to 10 a. m. , research from 10 a. m. to noon, etc. On the other hand, task-timers have a list of things they want to accomplish. They work down the list, each task starts when the previous task is completed. It is said that all of us employ a mix of both these types of planning.

What, then, are the effects of thinking about time in these different ways? Does one make us more productive? Better at the tasks at hand? Happier? In experiments conducted by Tamar Avnet and Anne-Laure Sellier, they had participants organize different activities—from project planning,

holiday shopping, to yoga—by time or to-do list to measure how they performed under \"clock time\" vs \"task time. \" They found clock timers to be more efficient but less happy because they felt little control Over their lives. Task timers are happier and more creative, but less productive. They tend to enjoy the moment when something good is happening, and seize opportunities that come up.

The researchers argue that task-based organizing tends to be undervalued and under-supported in business culture. Smart companies, they believe, will try to bake more task-based planning into their strategies.

This might be a small change to the way we view work and the office, but the researchers argue that it challenges a widespread characteristic of the economy: work organized by clock time. While most people will still probably need, and be, to some extent, clock-timers, task-based timing should be used when performing a job that requires more creativity. It'll make those tasks easier, and the task-doers will be happier.

56. What does the author think of time displayed everywhere? A) It makes everybody time-conscious. B) It is a convenience for work and life.

C) It may have a negative effect on creative work. D) It clearly indicates the fast pace of modem life.

57. How do people usually go about their work according to the author? A) They combine clock-based and task-based planning. B) They give priority to the most urgent task on hand. C) They set a time limit for each specific task. D) They accomplish their tasks one by one.

58. What did Tamar Avnet and Anne-Laure Sellier find in their experiments about clock-timers? A) They seize opportunities as they come up. B) They always get their work done in time. C) They have more control over their lives. D) They tend to be more productive.

59. What do the researchers say about today's business culture?

A) It does not support the strategies adopted by smart companies. B) It does not attach enough importance to task-based practice. C) It places more emphasis on work efficiency than on workers' lives. D) It aims to bring employees' potential and creativity into full play. 60. What do the researchers suggest?

A) Task-based timing is preferred for doing creative work. B) It is important to keep a balance between work and life. C) Performing creative jobs tends to make workers happier. D) A scientific standard should be adopted in job evaluation.

Passage Two

Questions 61 to 65 are based on the following passage.

Martha Stewart was charged, tried and convicted of a crime in 2004. As she neared the end of her prison sentence, a well-known columnist wrote that she was \" paying her dues,\" and that \" there is simply no reason for anyone to attempt to deny her right to start anew. \"

Surely, the American ideal of second chances should not be reserved only for the rich and powerful. Unfortunately, many federal and state laws impose post-conviction restrictions on a shockingly large number of Americans, who are prevented from ever fully paying their debt to society.

At least 65 million people in the United States have a criminal record. This can result in severe penalties that continue long after punishment is completed.

Many of these penalties are imposed regardless of the seriousness of the offense or the person's individual circumstances. Laws can restrict or ban voting, access to public housing, and professional and business licensing. They can affect a person's ability to get a job and qualification for benefits.

In all, more than 45,000 laws and rules serve to exclude vast numbers of people from fully participating in American life.

Some laws make sense. No one advocates letting someone convicted of pedophilia(恋童癖) work in a school. But too often collateral (附随的) consequences bear no relation to public safety. Should a woman who possessed a small amount of drugs years ago be permanently unable to be licensed as a nurse?

These laws are also counterproductive, since they make it harder for people with criminal records to find housing or land a job, two key factors that reduce backsliding.

A recent report makes several recommendations, including the abolition of most post-conviction penalties, except for those specifically needed to protect public safety. Where the penalties are not a must, they should be imposed only if the facts of a case support it.

The point is not to excuse or forget the crime. Rather, it is to recognize that in America's vast criminal justice system, second chances are crucial. It is in no one's interest to keep a large segment of the population on the margins of society. 注意：此部分试题请在答题卡2上作答。

61. What does the well-known columnist's remark about Martha Stewart suggest? A) Her past record might stand in her way to a new life. B) Her business went bankrupt while she was in prison. C) Her release from prison has drawn little attention. D) Her prison sentence might have been extended.

62. What do we learn from the second paragraph about many criminals in America? A) They backslide after serving their terms in prison. B) They are deprived of chances to turn over a new leaf. C) They receive severe penalties for committing minor offenses. D) They are convicted regardless of their individual circumstances.

63. What are the consequences for many Americans with a criminal record? A) They remain poor for the rest of their lives. B) They are deprived of all social benefits. C) They are marginalized in society. D) They are deserted by their family.

. What does the author think of the post-conviction laws and rules? A) They help to maintain social stability. B) Some of them have long been outdated. C) They are hardly understood by the public. D) A lot of them have negative effects on society.

65. What is the author's main purpose in writing the passage? A) To create opportunities for criminals to reform themselves. B) To appeal for changes in America's criminal justice system. C) To ensure that people with a criminal record live a decent life. D) To call people's attention to prisoners' .

中国父母往往过于关注孩子的学习，以至于不要他们帮忙做家务。他们对孩子的首要要求就是努力学习，考得好，能上名牌大学。他们相信这是为孩子好，因为在中国这样竞争激烈的社会里，只有成绩好才能保证前途光明。中国父母还认为，如果孩子能在社会上取得大的成就，父母就会受到尊敬。因此，他们愿意牺牲自己的时间、爱好和兴趣，为孩子提供更好的条件。

注意：此部分试题请在答题卡2上作答。

【参】

Chinese parents tend to pay too much attention to their children's study to such an extent that they even don't require their children to help them do the chores. Their primary requirement for their children is to study hard, get good grades and go to famous universities. They believe this does good to their children because in Chinese society which is full of intense competition, only perfect academic performance can ensure a bright future. Chinese parents also believe if their children can make great achievements in the society, they will receive respect accordingly. Therefore, they are willing to sacrifice their own time, hobbies and interests to provide better conditions for their children

2015年12月英语四级考试真题试卷（第二套）

Part I Writing (30 minutes)

Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write an essay commenting on the saying \"Learning is a daily experience and a lifetime mission. \" You can cite examples to illustrate the importance of lifelong learning. You should write at least 120 words but no more than 180 words.

注意：此部分试题在答题卡1上

________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ .PartIII 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 36 to 45 are based on the following passage.

For many Americans, 2013 ended with an unusually bitter cold spell. Late November and December __36__ early snow arid bone-chilling temperatures in much of the country, part of a year when, for the first time in two __37__ , record-cold days will likely turn out to have outnumbered record-warm ones. But the U. S. was the exception; November was the warmest ever __38__ , and current data indicates that 2013 is likely to have been the fourth hottest year on record.

Enjoy the snow now, because __39__ are good that 2014 will be even hotter, perhaps the hottest year since records have been kept. That's because, scientists are predicting, 2014 will be an El Nino year.

El Nino, Spanish for \"the child\" , __40__ when surface ocean waters in the southern Pacific become abnormally warm. So large is the Pacific, covering 30% of the planet's surface, that the __41__ energy generated by its warming is enough to touch off a series of weather changes around the world. El Ninos are __42__ with abnormally dry conditions in Southeast Asia and Australia. They can lead to extreme rain in parts of North and South America, even as southern Africa __43__ dry weather. Marine life may be affected too: El Ninos can __44__ the rising of the cold, nutrient-rich (营养丰富的) water that supports large fish __45__ , and the unusually warm ocean temperatures can destroy coral (珊瑚).

A) additional B) associated C) bore D) chances E) communicated F) decades G) experiences H) globally I) logically J) occurs K) populations L) realize M) reduce N) saw O) specific How to Eat Well

A) Why do so many Americans eat tons of processed food, the stuff that is correctly called junk (垃圾) should really carry warning labels?

B) It's not because fresh ingredients are hard to come by. Supermarkets offer more variety than ever, and there are over four times as many farmers' markets in the U. S. as there were 20 years ago. Nor is it for lack of available information. There are plenty of recipes (食谱), how-to videos and cooking classes available to anyone who has a computer, smartphone or television. If anything, the information is overwhelming.

C) And yet we aren't cooking. If you eat three meals a day and behave like most Americans, you probably get at least a third of your daily calories (卡路里) outside the home. Nearly two-thirds of us grab fast food once a week, and we get almost 25% of our daily calories from snacks. So we're eating out or taking in, and we don't sit down-or we do, but we hurry.

D) Shouldn't preparing-and consuming-food be a source of comfort, pride, health, well-being, relaxation, sociability? Something that connects us to other humans? Why would we want to outsource(外包) this basic task, especially when outsourcing it is so harmful?

E) When I talk about cooking, I'm not talking about creating elaborate dinner parties or three-day science projects. I'm talking about simple, easy, everyday meals. My mission is to encourage green hands and those lacking time or money to feed themselves. That means we need modest, realistic expectations, and we need to teach people to cook food that's good enough to share with family and friends.

F) Perhaps a return to real cooking needn't be far off. A recent Harris poll revealed that 79% of Americans say they enjoy cooking and 30% \"love it\" ; 14% admit to not enjoying kitchen work and just 7% won't go near the stove at all. But this doesn't necessarily translate to real cooking, and the result of this survey shouldn't surprise anyone: 52% of those 65 or older cook at home five or more times per week; only a third of young people do.

G) Back in the 1950s most of us grew up in households where Mom cooked virtually every night. The intention to put a home-cooked meal on the table was pretty much universal. Most people couldn't afford to do otherwise.

H) Although frozen dinners were invented in the '40s, their popularity didn't boom until televisions became popular a decade or so later. Since then, packaged, pre-prepared meals have been what's for dinner. The microwave and fast-food chains were the biggest catalysts (催化剂), but the big food companies—which want to sell anything except the raw ingredients that go into cooking—made the home cook an endangered species.

I) Still, I find it strange that only a third of young people report preparing meals at home regularly. Isn't this the same crowd that rails against processed junk and champions craft cooking? And isn't this the generation who say they're concerned about their health and the well-being of the planet? If these are truly the values of many young people, then their behavior doesn't match their beliefs. J) There have been half-hearted but well-publicized efforts by some food companies to reduce calories in their processed foods, but the Standard American Diet is still the polar opposite of the healthy, mostly plant-based diet that just about every expert says we should be eating. Considering that the government's standards are not nearly ambitious enough, the picture is clear: by not cooking at home, we're not eating the right things, and the consequences are hard to overstate. K) To help quantify (量化) the costs of a poor diet, I recently tried to estimate this impact in terms of a most famous food, the burger (汉堡包). I concluded that the profit from burgers is more than offset (抵消) by the damage they cause in health problems and environmental harm.

L) Cooking real food is the best defense—not to mention that any meal you're likely to eat at home contains about 200 fewer calories than one you would eat in a restaurant.

M) To those Americans for whom money is a concern, my advice is simple; Buy what you can afford, and cook it yourself. The common prescription is to primarily shop the grocery store, since that's where fresh produce, meat and seafood, and dairy are. And to save money and still eat well you don't need local, organic ingredients; all you need is real food. I'm not saying local food isn't better; it is. But there is plenty of decent food in the grocery stores.

N) The other sections you should get to know are the frozen foods and the canned goods. Frozen produce is still produce; canned tomatoes are still tomatoes. Just make sure you're getting real food without tons of added salt or sugar. Ask yourself, would Grandma consider this food? Does it look like something that might occur in nature? It's pretty much common sense; you want to buy food, not unidentifiable foodlike objects.

O) You don't have to hit the grocery store daily, nor do you need an abundance of skill. Since fewer than half of Americans say they cook at an intermediate level and only 20% describe their cooking skills as advanced, the crisis is one of confidence. And the only remedy for that is practice. There's nothing mysterious about cooking the evening meal. You just have to do a little thinking ahead and redefine what qualifies as dinner. Like any skill, cooking gets easier as you do it more; every time you cook, you advance your level of skills. Someday you won't even need recipes. My advice is that you not pay attention to the number of steps and ingredients, because they can be deceiving.

P) Time, I realize, is the biggest obstacle to cooking for most people. You must adjust your priorities to find time to cook. For instance, you can move a TV to the kitchen and watch your favorite shows while you're standing at the sink. No one is asking you to give up activities you like, but if you're watching food shows on TV, try cooking instead.

46. Cooking benefits people in many ways and enables them to connect with one another. 47. Abundant information about cooking is available either online or on TV. 48. Young people do less cooking at home than the elderly these days. 49. Cooking skills can be improved with practice.

50. In the mid-20th century, most families ate dinner at home instead of eating out.

51. Even those short of time or money should be encouraged to cook for themselves and their family.

52. Eating food not cooked by ourselves can cause serious consequences.

53. To eat well and still save money, people should buy fresh food and cook it themselves. 54. We get a fairly large portion of calories from fast food and snacks. 55. The popularity of TV led to the popularity of frozen food.

Passage One

Questions 56 to 60 are based on the following passage.

The wallet is heading for extinction. As a day-to-day essential, it will die off with the generation

who read print newspapers. The kind of shopping-where you hand over notes and count out change in return-now happens only in the most minor of our retail encounters, like buying a bar of chocolate or a pint of milk from a corner shop. At the shops where you spend any real money, that money is increasingly abstracted. And this is more and more true, the higher up the scale you go. At the most cutting-edge retail stores-Victoria Beckham on Dover Street, for instance-you don't go and stand at any kind of cash register when you decide to pay. The staff are equipped with iPads to take your payment while you relax on a sofa.

Which is nothing more or less than excellent service, if you have the money. But across society, the abstraction of the idea of cash makes me uneasy. Maybe I'm just old-fashioned. But earning money isn't quick or easy for most of us. Isn't it a bit weird that spending it should happen in half a blink (眨眼) of an eye? Doesn't a wallet-that time-honoured Friday-night feeling of pleasing, promising fatness-represent something that matters?

But I'll leave the economics to the experts. What bothers me about the death of the wallet is the change it represents in our physical environment. Everything about the look and feel of a wallet-the way the fastenings and materials wear and tear and loosen with age, the plastic and paper and gold and silver, and handwritten phone numbers and printed cinema tickets-is the very opposite of what our world is becoming. The opposite of a wallet is a smartphone or an iPad. The rounded edges, cool glass, smooth and unknowable as a pebble (鹅卵石). Instead of digging through pieces of paper and peering into comers, we move our fingers left and right. No more counting out coins. Show your wallet, if you still have one. It may not be here much longer.

56. What is happening to the wallet? A) It is disappearing. B) It is being fattened. C) It is becoming costly. D) It is changing in style.

57. How are business transactions done in big modern stores? A) Individually. B) Electronically. C) In the abstract. D) Via a cash register.

58. What makes the author feel uncomfortable nowadays? A) Saving money is becoming a thing of the past. B) The pleasing Friday-night feeling is fading. C) Earning money is getting more difficult. D) Spending money is so fast and easy.

59. Why does the author choose to write about what's happening to the wallet? A) It represents a change in the modern world. B) It has something to do with everybody's life. C) It marks the end of a time-honoured tradition. D) It is the concern of contemporary economists.

60. What can we infer from the passage about the author? A) He is resistant to social changes. B) He is against technological progress.

C) He feels reluctant to part with the traditional wallet. D) He feels insecure in the ever-changing modern world.

Passage Two

Questions 61 to 65 are based on the following passage.

Everybody sleeps, but what people stay up late to catch-or wake up early in order not to miss?varies by culture.

From data collected, it seems the things that cause us to lose the most sleep, on average, are sporting events, time changes, and holidays.

Around the world, people changed sleep patterns thanks to the start or end of daylight savings time. Russians, for example, began to wake up about a half-hour later each day after President

Vladimir Putin shifted the country permanently to \"winter time\" starting on October 26.

Russia's other late nights and early mornings generally correspond to public holidays. On New Year's Eve, Russians have the world's latest bedtime, hitting the hay at around 3:30 a. m.

Russians also get up an hour later on International Women's Day, the day for treating and celebrating female relatives.Similarly, Americans' late nights, late mornings, and longest sleeps fall on three-day weekends. Canada got the least sleep of the year the night it beat Sweden in the Olympic hockey (冰球) final.

The World Cup is also chiefly responsible for sleep deprivation (剥夺). The worst night for sleep in the U. K. was the night of the England-Italy match on June 14. Brits stayed up a half-hour later to watch it, and then they woke up earlier than usual the next morning thanks to summer nights, the phenomenon in which the sun barely sets in northern countries in the summertime. That was nothing, though, compared to Germans, Italians, and the French, who stayed up around an hour and a half later on various days throughout the summer to watch the Cup.

It should be made clear that not everyone has a device to record their sleep patterns; in some of these nations, it's likely that only the richest people do. And people who elect to track their sleep may try to get more sleep than the average person. Even if that's the case, though, the above findings are still striking. If the most health-conscious among us have such deep swings in our shut-eye levels throughout the year, how much sleep are the rest of us losing? 注意：此部分试题请在答题卡2上作答。

61. What does the author say about people's sleeping habits? A) They are culture-related. B) They affect people's health. C) They change with the seasons. D) They vary from person to person.

62. What do we learn about the Russians regarding sleep? A) They don't fall asleep until very late. B) They don't sleep much on weekends. C) They get less sleep on public holidays. D) They sleep longer than people elsewhere.

63. What is the major cause for Europeans' loss of sleep? A) The daylight savings time. B) The colorful night life. C) The World Cup. D) The summertime.

. What is the most probable reason for some rich people to use a device to record their sleep patterns?

A) They have trouble falling asleep. B) They want to get sufficient sleep. C) They are involved in a sleep research. D) They want to go to bed on regular hours.

65. What does the author imply in the last paragraph? A) Sleeplessness does harm to people's health. B) Few people really know the importance of sleep. C) It is important to study our sleep patterns. D) Average people probably sleep .

云南省的丽江古镇是中国著名的旅游目的地之一。那里的生活节奏比大多数中国城市都要缓慢。丽江到处都是美丽的自然风光，众多的少数民族同胞提供了各式各样、丰富多彩的文化让游客体验。历史上，丽江还以“爱之城”而闻名。当地人中流传着许多关于因爱而生、为爱而死的故事。如今，在中外游客眼中，这个古镇被视为爱情和浪漫的天堂(paradise)。

注意：此部分试题请在答题卡2上作答。

2015年12月英语四级考试真题试卷（第三套）

Part I Writing (30 minutes)

Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write an essay commenting on the saying \"Never go out there to see what happens, go out there to make things happen. \" You can cite

examples to illustrate the importance of being participants rather than mere onlookers in life. You should write at least 120 words but no more than 180 words.

注意：此部分试题在答题卡1上

________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________

PartIII 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 36 to 45 are based on the following passage.

Children do not think the way adults do. For most of the first year of life, if something is out of sight, it's out of mind. If you cover a baby's __36__ toy with a piece of cloth, the baby thinks the toy has disappeared and stops looking for it. A 4-year-old may __37__ that a sister has more fruit juice when it is only the shapes of the glasses that differ, not the __38__ of juice.

Yet children are smart in their own way. Like good little scientists, children are always testing their child-sized __39__ about how things work. When your child throws her spoon on the floor for the sixth time as you try to feed her, and you say, \"That's enough! I will not pick up your spoon again!\" the child will __40__ test your claim. Are you serious? Are you angiy? What will happen if she throws the spoon again? She is not doing this to drive you __41__ ; rather, she is learning that her desires and yours can differ, and that sometimes those __42__ are important and sometimes they are not.

How and why does children's thinking change? In the 1920s, Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget

proposed that children's cognitive(认知的) abilities unfold __43__ , like the blooming of a flower, almost independent of what else is __44__ in their lives. Although many of his specific

conclusions have been __45__ or modified over the years, his ideas inspired thousands of studies by investigators all over the world.

A) advocate B) amount C) confirmed D) crazy E) definite F) differences G) favorite H) happening I) immediately J) naturally K) obtaining L) primarily M) protest N) rejected O) theories

The Perfect Essay

A) Looking back on too many years of education, I can identify one truly impossible teacher. She cared about me, and my intellectual life, even when I didn't. Her expectations were high-impossibly so. She was an English teacher. She was also my mother.

B) When good students turn in an essay, they dream of their instructor returning it to them in exactly the same condition, save for a single word added in the margin of the final page: \"

Flawless. \" This dream came true for me one afternoon in the ninth grade. Of course, I had heard that genius could show itself at an early age, so I was only slightly taken aback that I had achieved perfection at the tender age of 14. Obviously, I did what any professional writer would do; I hurried off to spread the good news. I didn't get very far. The first person I told was my mother.

C) My mother, who is just shy of five feet tall, is normally incredibly soft-spoken, but on the rare occasion when she got angry, she was terrifying. I am not sure if she was more upset by my

hubris(得意忘形) or by the fact that my English teacher had let my ego get so out of hand. In any event, my mother and her red pen showed me how deeply flawed a flawless essay could be. At the time, I am sure she thought she was teaching me about mechanics, transitions (过渡), structure, style and voice. But what I learned, and what stuck with me through my time teaching writing at Harvard, was a deeper lesson about the nature of creative criticism.

D) First off, it hurts. Genuine criticism, the type that leaves a lasting mark on you as a writer, also leaves an existential imprint (印记) on you as a person. I have heard people say that a writer should never take criticism personally. I say that we should never listen to these people.

E) Criticism, at its best, is deeply personal, and gets to the heart of why we write the way we do.

The intimate nature of genuine criticism implies something about who is able to give it, namely, someone who knows you well enough to show you how your mental life is getting in the way of good writing. Conveniently, they are also the people who care enough to see you through this painful realization. For me it took the form of my first, and I hope only, encounter with writer's block-I was not able to produce anything for three years.

F) Franz Kafka once said:\" Writing is utter solitude (独处), the descent into the cold abyss (深渊) of oneself. \" My mother's criticism had shown me that Kafka is right about the cold abyss, and when you make the introspective (内省的) descent that writing requires you are not always pleased by what you find. But, in the years that followed, her sustained tutoring suggested that Kafka might be wrong about the solitude. I was lucky enough to find a critic and teacher who was willing to make the journey of writing with me. \"It is a thing of no great difficulty,\" according to Plutarch, \"to raise objections against another man's speech, it is a very easy matter; but to produce a better in its place is a work extremely troublesome. \" I am sure I wrote essays in the later years of high school without my mother's guidance, but I can't recall them. What I remember, however, is how she took up the \"extremely troublesome\" work of ongoing criticism.

G) There are two ways to interpret Plutarch when he suggests that a critic should be able to produce \" a better in its place. \" In a straightforward sense, he could mean that a critic must be more talented than the artist she critiques (评论). My mother was well covered on this count. But perhaps Plutarch is suggesting something slightly different, something a bit closer to Marcus Cicero's claim that one should \" criticize by creation, not by finding fault. \" Genuine criticism creates a precious opening for an author to become better on his own terms-a process that is often extremely painful, but also almost always meaningful.

H) My mother said she would help me with my writing, but first I had to help myself. For each assignment, I was to write the best essay I could. Real criticism is not meant to find obvious mistakes, so if she found any-the type I could have found on my own-I had to start from scratch. From scratch. Once the essay was \" flawless,\" she would take an evening to walk me through my errors. That was when true criticism, the type that changed me as a person, began.

I) She criticized me when I included little-known references and professional jargon (行话) ?She had no patience for brilliant but irrelevant figures of speech. \"Writers can't bluff (虚张声势) their way through ignorance. \" That was news to me-I would need to find another way to structure my daily existence.

J) She trimmed back my flowery language, drew lines through my exclamation marks and argued for the value of restraint in expression. \" John,\" she almost whispered. I leaned in to hear her: \"I can't hear you when you shout at me. \" So I stopped shouting and bluffing, and slowly my writing improved.

K) Somewhere along the way I set aside my hopes of writing that flawless essay. But perhaps I missed something important in my mother's lessons about creativity and perfection. Perhaps the point of writing the flawless essay was not to give up, but to never willingly finish. Whitman

repeatedly reworked \"Song of Myself' between 1855 and 11. Repeatedly. We do our absolute best with a piece of writing, and come as close as we can to the ideal. And, for the time being, we settle. In critique, however, we are forced to depart, to give up the perfection we thought we had achieved for the chance of being even a little bit better. This is the lesson I took from my mother.. If perfection were possible, it would not be motivating.

46. The author was advised against the improper use of figures of speech.

47. The author's mother taught him a valuable lesson by pointing out lots of flaws in his seemingly perfect essay.

48. A writer should polish his writing repeatedly so as to get closer to perfection.

49. Writers may experience periods of time in their life when they just can't produce anything. 50. The author was not much surprised when his school teacher marked his essay as \"flawless\". 51. Criticizing someone's speech is said to be easier than coming up with a better one. 52. The author looks upon his mother as his most demanding and caring instructor. 53. The criticism the author received from his mother changed him as a person. 54. The author gradually improved his writing by avoiding fancy language. 55. Constructive criticism gives an author a good start to improve his writing.

Passage One

Questions 56 to 60 are based on the following passage.

Could you reproduce Silicon Valley elsewhere, or is there something unique about it?

It wouldn't be surprising if it were hard to reproduce in other countries, because you couldn't reproduce it in most of the US either. What does it take to make a Silicon Valley?

It's the right people. If you could get the right ten thousand people to move from Silicon Valley to Buffalo, Buffalo would become Silicon Valley.

You only need two kinds of people to create a technology hub (中心): rich people and nerds (痴迷科研的人)

Observation bears this out. Within the US, towns have become startup hubs if and only if they have both rich people and nerds. Few startups happen in Miami, for example, because although it's full of rich people, it has few nerds. It's not the kind of place nerds like.

Whereas Pittsburgh has the opposite problem: plenty of nerds, but no rich people. The top US Computer Science departments are said to be MIT, Stanford, Berkeley, and Carnegie-Mellon. MIT yielded Route 128. Stanford and Berkeley yielded Silicon Valley. But what did Cainegie-Mellon yield in Pittsburgh? And what happened in Ithaca, home of Cornell University, which is also high on the list?

I grew up in Pittsburgh and went to college at Cornell, so I can answer for both. The weather is terrible, particularly in winter, and there's no interesting old city to make up for it, as there is in

Boston. Rich people don't want to live in Pittsburgh or Ithaca. So while there're plenty of hackers (电脑迷) who could start startups, there's no one to invest in them.

Do you really need the rich people? Wouldn't it work to have the government invest in the nerds? No, it would not. Startup investors are a distinct type of rich people. They tend to have a lot of experience themselves in the technology business. This helps them pick the right startups, and means they can supply advice and connections as well as money. And the fact that they have a personal stake in the outcome makes them really pay attention.

注意：此部分试题请在答题卡2上作答。

56. What do we learn about Silicon Valley from the passage? A) Its success is hard to copy anywhere else. B) It is the biggest technology hub in the US. C) Its fame in high technology is incomparable. D) It leads the world in information technology.

57. What makes Miami unfit to produce a Silicon Valley? A) Lack of incentive for investment. B) Lack of the right kind of talents. C) Lack of government support. D) Lack of famous universities.

58. In what way is Carnegie-Mellon different from Stanford, Berkeley and MIT? A) Its location is not as attractive to rich people. B) Its science departments are not nearly as good. C) It does not produce computer hackers and nerds. D) It does not pay much attention to business startups.

59. What does the author imply about Boston? A) It has pleasant weather all year round. B) It produces wealth as well as high-tech.

C) It is not likely to attract lots of investors and nerds. D) It is an old city with many sites of historical interest.

60. What does the author say about startup investors? A) They are especially wise in making investments. B) They have good connections in the government. C) They can do more than providing money. D) They are rich enough to invest in nerds.

Passage Two

Questions 61 to 65 are based on the following passage.

It's nice to have people of like mind around. Agreeable people boost your confidence and allow you to relax and feel comfortable. Unfortunately, that comfort can hinder the very learning that can expand your company and your career.

It's nice to have people agree, but you need conflicting perspectives to dig out the truth. If everyone around you has similar views, your work will suffer from confirmation bias(偏颇).

Take a look at your own network. Do your contacts share your point of view on most subjects? If yes, it's time to shake things up. As a leader, it can be challenging to create an environment in which people will freely disagree and argue, but as the saying goes: From confrontation comes brilliance.

It's not easy for most people to actively seek conflict. Many spend their lives trying to avoid arguments. There's no need to go out and find people you hate, but you need to do some

self-assessment to determine where you have become stale in your thinking. You may need to start by encouraging your current network to help you identify your blind spots.

Passionate, energetic debate does not require anger and hard feelings to be effective. But it does require moral strength. Once you have worthy opponents, set some ground rules so everyone understands responsibilities and boundaries. The objective of this debating game is not to win but to get to the truth that will allow you to move faster, farther, and better.

Fierce debating can hurt feelings, particularly when strong personalities are involved. Make sure you check in with your opponents so that they are not carrying the emotion of the battles beyond the battlefield. Break the tension with smiles and humor to reinforce the idea that this is friendly discourse and that all are working toward a common goal.

Reward all those involved in the debate sufficiently when the goals are reached. Let your sparring partners (拳击陪练) know how much you appreciate their contribution. The more they feel appreciated, the more they'll be willing to get into .

注意：此部分试题请在答题卡2上作答。

61. What happens when you have like-minded people around you all the while? A) It will help your company expand more rapidly. B) It will create a harmonious working atmosphere.

C) It may prevent your business and career from advancing. D) It may make you feel uncertain about your own decisions.

62. What does the author suggest leaders do? A) Avoid arguments with business partners. B) Encourage people to disagree and argue. C) Build a wide and strong business network.

D) Seek advice from their worthy competitors.

63. What is the purpose of holding a debate? A) To find out the truth about an issue. B) To build up people's moral strength. C) To remove misunderstandings. D) To look for worthy opponents.

. What advice does the author give to people engaged in a fierce debate? A) They listen carefully to their opponents' views. B ) They show due respect for each other's beliefs. C) They present their views clearly and explicitly. D) They take care not to hurt each other's feelings.

65. How should we treat our rivals after a successful debate? A) Try to make peace with them. B) Try to make up the differences. C) Invite them to .

D) Acknowledge their contribution.

Part IV Translation (30 minutes)

Directious: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to translate a passage from

Chinese into English. You should write your answer on Answer Sheet 2.

今年在长沙举行了一年一度的外国人汉语演讲比赛。这项比赛证明是促进中国和世界其他地区文化交流的好方法。它为世界各地的年轻人提供了更好地了解中国的机会。来自87个国家共计126位选手聚集在湖南省省会参加了从7月6日到8月5日进行的半决赛和决赛。比赛并不是唯一的活动。选手们还有机会参观了中国其他地区的著名景点和历史名胜。 注意：此部分试题请在答题卡2上作答。 【参】

【第一套】

【作文范文】

Listening Is More Important than Talking

Nowadays an old saying, \"Listening is more important than talking\saying tells us the true essence of communication with others in the society, which means paying attention to others' opinions is much more important than expressing one's own words. As for me, there are two reasons accounting for the correctness of this principle. To start with, listening shows your respect for others. In such a competitive society, willingness to listen can

make you gain trust and friendship, which is the basic rule of socialization. A talkative person without ear is doomed to be alienated. Furthermore, listening can really benefit yourself. There is no denying that you are the one to make choices in your life. However, a variety of ideas from others will definitely enrich your mind and present some enlightenment to your future actions. According to what is said above, listening truly outweighs talking on many occasions. In modern society, we need to master some communication skills. Only when we realize the importance of listening can we lead a better life. Part II

CBDAA DBDAC BACCD ADCCB CBDAB 26. heavenly 27. fascinating 28. made up of 29. Now and then 30. combine with 31. generally 32. characteristics 33. phenomenon 34. naked 35. relatively Part III JGOKB IFMHA GDAFK HCIBJ CADBA ABCDB Part IV 参：

Chinese parents tend to pay too much attention to their children's study to such an extent that they even don't require their children to help them do the chores. Their primary requirement for their

children is to study hard, get good grades and go to famous universities. They believe this does good to their children because in Chinese society which is full of intense competition, only perfect academic performance can ensure a bright future. Chinese parents also believe if their children can make great achievements in the society, they will receive respect accordingly. Therefore, they are willing to sacrifice their own time, hobbies and interests to provide their children. 【参】

【第二套】

阅读： 【作文范文】

Learning Should Be a Lifelong Process

It is often said that learning is a daily experience and a lifetime mission. The saying indicates the importance of lifelong learning, which we have been lectured over and over again.

Lifelong learning is crucial to our life and career in modern society. Living in the Information Age, we have to keep pace with the times through ceaseless learning; otherwise, we'll be too outdated to seize any opportunities. For example, a taxi driver who learns to use a Taxi App such as Didi can make much more money than those who don't; a housewife who opens a shop online can even out-earn a white-collar worker. All of their success can be attributed to their constant learning in addition to the progress of technology.

As an old saying goes, it is never too old to learn. Thus, learning is an attitude regardless of age. Only through learning ceaselessly can we achieve our potential and live a better life in this rapidly developing society. Part II

DCBDC ACBBC ACDCA DBCBA BCABD 26. transactions 27. in silence 28. short of 29. resent 30. embarrassed 31. spare 32. response

33. turn the tables 34. realization 35. convenient Part III

NFHDJ ABGMK DBFOG EJMCH ABDAD ACCBB Part IV 参：

Lijiang, an ancient town in Yunnan Province, is one of the most famous tourist attractions in China. The life tempo there is slower than that of most Chinese cities. There is beautiful natural scenery every where in Luang, and many minorities provide tourists with various and colorful cultural experience. It has also been known as the \"City of Love\" in history Numerous legends about people who were bom for love and died for love circulate among the local folk. Nowadays, this ancient town is regarded as the paradise of love and romance in the eyes of both Chinese . 选词填空：

36. N. saw 第一空显然缺少谓语，优先考虑动词，结合语义并根据Late November and December可以推出应选择过去式动词，故答案锁定saw.

37. F. decades 根据two，首选复数名词，结合语义，“ for the first time in the two decades”， 二十年来头一次。

38. H. globally 句子为主系表结构，不缺主要成分，所以首选副词和形容词，根据语义，ever表示“一直以来地、向来地”，“十一月向来是全球范围内最温暖的一个月。”

39. D. chances 缺少主语，并且谓语是are，所以首选复数形式的名词，结合前文Enjoy the snow now， “享受现在的雪吧”，因为“时机是好的”。

40. J. occurs 空格前方有主语，且是单数形式，而后面由when引导的时间状语从句的时态是一般现在时，所以主句谓语锁定第三人称单数形式的动词，只能选择occurs.

41. A. specific空格左为定冠词the，空格右为名词，中间只能选形容词，选择“特定的”符合语义。

42. B. associated 空格左为be动词，右边为介词with，中间只能是形容词或动词的过去分词形式，be associated with表示“与…有联系”，符合原意。

43. G. experiences 空格左为主语southern Africa，空格内应该为动词的第三人称单词形式，结合语义，选G，“南非经历着干燥的天气。

44. M. reduce 空格左为情态动词，空格内必须为动词原形，填reduce“减少”符合原题。 45. K. populations 空格与左边的large fish 共同构成动词support的宾语，只能选一个名词来作为名词词组，故选K，“大量的鱼群”。 段落匹配：

46. I，根据关键信息“figures of speech”定位到I段，原文中该词组前面的形容词是“irrelevant”，和句中的“improper”为同义替换关系。

47. C，根据关键信息“flaws”可定位至C段，同义替换关系句“my mother and her red pen showed me how deeply flawed a flaw less essay could be.”

48. K，该句意思为“为了达到完美，作家应该反复地修改他的文章”，对应K段中的“Perhaps the point of writing the flawless essay was not to give up， but to never willingly finish.” 49. E，该句大意为“某些时间段里，作家可能会感觉什么都写不出来了”，对应E段中的“I was not able to produce anything for 3 years.”。

50. B， 该句意为“当老师认为作者的文章没有瑕疵时，他并不惊讶”，对应B段的“so I was only slightly taken aback that I had achieved perfection at the tender age of 14.”该句中的“taken aback”意为“惊讶”。

51. F，该句意为“对别人的演讲品头论足总比自己做一个更棒的演讲容易”，对应F段的“It is a thing of no great difficulty，” according to Plutarch， “to raise objections against another man„speech， it is a very easy matter； but to produce a better in its place is awork extremely troublesome.”。

52. A，该句意为“作者视其母为最严格和最细心的老师”，对应A段的“She cared about me， and my intellectual life， even when I didn‟t.Her expectations were high impossibly so. She was an English teacher. She was also my mother.”。

53. H，该句意为“作者从其母处得到的批评改变了作者的人格”，对应H段的“That was when true criticism， the type that changed me as a person， began.”。

54. J，该句意为“作者通过避免使用华而不实的语言慢慢地提升自己的作品”，对应J段的“So I stopped shouting and bluffing，and slowly my writing improved.”。

55. G，该局意为“有建设性的评判能让作家在提升作品方面有一个好的开始”，对应G段“Genuine criticism creates a precious opening for an author to become better on this own terms—a process that is often extremely painful， but also almost always meaningful.”。 仔细阅读： 56. A

此题难度不大，根据题干中的“Silicon Valley”可定位第一段，第一段尾句“is there something unique about it？”直接把答案引向第二段。精读第二段“it wouldn‟t be surprising if it were hard to reproduce in other countries”，可知该句与A选项“Its success is hard to copy anywhere else.”为同义替换关系，故选A，其他三项均为无中生有。 57. B

此题难度不大，根据题干中 “Miami”可定位至原文第五段，该段表明迈阿密只有有钱人，而缺少“痴迷于技术的人”，所以无法成为科技中心，该含义对应B选项，为统一替换关系，选项中的“the right kind of talents”替换了原文的“nerds”。 58. A

此题难度不高，根据题干中的“Carnegie-Mellon”和“Stanford”，“Berkeley”，“MIT”容易定位到原文第六段，第六段段位抛出问题，所以顺势往第七段找答案。第七段中详细描述了卡内基梅隆大学所在的匹兹堡的不同之处：“The weather is terrible”，“rich people don„t want to live in Pittsburgh or Ithaca”，这些信息都指向了A选项，为高度概括关系。 59. D

该题难度较高，根据题干中的“Boston”可定位至原文的第七段。原文提到Boston的句子为“as there is in Boston”，as在这里表对比，意为“波士顿却有”，那么前文一定指出了匹兹堡没有某物，所以关键句在于具体是什么，故往前文查找，发现前文提到的是 “and there„s no interesting old city to make up for it”，意思是匹兹堡不仅天气恶劣，而且也没有有趣的老城区，但是波士顿却与之相反，固选择D，表示“波士顿有着很多历史古迹”。 60. C

本题难度不高，根据核心名词概念“start up investors”可定位到原文最后一段，原文清晰地表述了，start up investors不仅能够提供资金帮助，还能提供很多建议，所以C选项“他们不仅能提供资金”是最好的答案，和原文关系为高度概括。 61. C

该题难度不大，根据“like-minded people”定位到首段，首段指出这类人可以给人信息并令人感到舒服，后面用“unfortunately”表转折，后面的表述“这种舒服会让你意识不到你可以扩大你的公司和事业”，对应C选项，同义替换。 62. B

本题不难。根据核心名词“leaders”定位到第三段，作者给leader的建议是“虽然建立一个自由言论的环境不容易，但是俗话说灵感从争论中迸发”，意思是领导者需要建立这样能的环境，固选择B项，高度概括。 63. A

本题难度不大。根据关键信息“purpose of holding a debate”定位到原文倒数第三段，原文“objective”对应“purpose”，后面跟的即为答案：“is not to win but to get the truth that will allow

you to move faster， farther，and better.”，对应A选项。 . D

该题难度较大。根据关键信息“fierce debate”定位到原文倒数第二段，原文给出观点“用微笑和幽默表明这是一个友好的讨论，大家的目标都是一样的”，对应D选项，该题强干扰项为B，B选项中的“respect”容易让同学们产生好感从而错选B，而实际上B选项错在“other„s beliefs”上，原文并没有提到尊重他人的信念和观点，属于无中生有。 65. D

根据题干“rival”对应到最后一段的“sparring partners”，原文给出“让他们知道对他们的付出你很感激”，对应D选项“肯定他们的付出”，为同义替换关系。

【第三套】

【作文范文】

Be Participants Rather than Onlookers

Just as the saying goes, never go out there to see what happens, go out there to make things happen. It obviously emphasizes the importance of being participants instead of mere onlookers in life.

There are several reasons accounting for it. To start with, you will never learn the essence of life unless you try something on your own. Whether it's a success or a failure, it will make your life more colorful. Furthermore, chances are only for those who are brave enough to challenge themselves. They tend to have more choices and opportunities than others. Last but not least, Rome is not built in one day. Only if you are a doer rather than a watcher can you get life-long valuable experience.

It is no exaggeration to say that many of the young generations prefer to be onlookers, which seems to be easier and less stressful. But this kind of attitude is devastating. We should start making a change by applying what we have learned into practice, and play our part in bettering our world, which will finally benefit not only ourselves but also the future generations.

Part II

CBDAA DBDAC BACCD ADCCB CBDAB 26. heavenly 27. fascinating 28. made up of 29. Now and then 30. combine with 31. generally

32. characteristics

33. phenomenon 34. naked 35. relatively

Part III

GMBOI DFJHN ICKEB FAHJG ABADC CBADD

Part IV 参：

An annual Chinese speech contest for foreigners was held in Changsha this year, which

proved to be a good way of promoting the cultural communication between China and other areas of the world. It offered young people all over the world a good opportunity to learn better about China.

A total of 126 contestants from 87 countries gathered in the capital of Hunan Province and took pan in both the semifinal and the final from July 6 to August 5.

The competition was not the only activity. The contestants also got chances to visit the famous scenic spots and historical resorts in .