1、大学英语四级-98 及答案解析(总分：100.00，做题时间：90 分钟)一、Reading Comprehensio(总题数：4，分数：100.00)Sign has become a scientific hot button. Only in the past 20 years have specialists in language study realized that signed languages are uniquea speech of the hand. They offer a new way to probe how the brain generates and u
2、nderstands language, and throw new light on an old scientific controversy: whether language, complete with grammar, is something that we are born with, or whether it is a learned behavior. The current interest in sign language has roots in the pioneering work of one rebel teacher at Gallaudet Univer
3、sity in Washington, D.C., the world“s only liberal arts university for deaf people. When Bill Stokoe went to Gallaudet to teach English, the school enrolled him in a course in signing. But Stokoe noticed something odd: among themselves, students signed differently from his classroom teacher. Stokoe
4、had been taught a sort of gestural code, each movement of the hands representing a word in English. At the time, American Sign Language (ASL) was thought to be no more than a form of pidgin English (混杂英语). But Stokoe believed the “hand talk“ his students used looked richer. He wondered: Might deaf p
5、eople actually have a genuine language? And could that language be unlike any other on Earth? It was 1955, when even deaf people dismissed their signing as “substandard“. Stokoe“s idea was academic heresy (异端邪说). It is 37 years later. Stokoenow devoting his time to writing and editing books and jour
6、nals and to producing video materials on ASL and the deaf cultureis having lunch at a caf near the Gallaudet campus and explaining how he started a revolution. For decades educators fought his idea that signed languages are natural languages like English, French and Japanese. They assumed language m
7、ust be based on speech, the modulation (调节) of sound. But sign language is based on the movement of hands, the modulation of space. “What I said,“ Stokoe explains, “is that language is not mouth stuffit“s brain stuff.“（分数：25.00）(1).The study of sign language is thought to be _.（分数：5.00）A.a new way t
8、o look at the learning of languageB.a challenge to traditional views on the nature of languageC.an approach to simplifying the grammatical structure of a languageD.an attempt to clarify misunderstanding about the origin of language(2).The present growing interest in sign language was stimulated by _
9、.（分数：5.00）A.a famous scholar in the study of the human brainB.a leading specialist in the study of liberal artsC.an English teacher in a university for the deafD.some senior experts in American Sign Language(3).According to Stokoe, sign language is _.（分数：5.00）A.a substandard languageB.a genuine lang
10、uageC.an artificial languageD.an international language(4).Most educators objected to Stokoe“s idea because they thought _.（分数：5.00）A.sign language was not extensively used even by deaf peopleB.sign language was too artificial to be widely acceptedC.a language should be easy to use and understandD.a
11、 language could only exist in the form of speech sounds(5).Stokoe“s argument is based on his belief that _.（分数：5.00）A.sign language is as efficient as any other languageB.sign language is derived from natural languageC.language is a system of meaningful codesD.language is a product of the brainWhen
12、today“s college graduates get together for a reunion someday, they may decide to do it by computer. That“s because right now, nearly one in five college students takes at least one class online, according to a new survey. For professors, the growth of e-learning has meant a big shift in the way they
13、 deal with students. Take professor Sara Cordell of the University of Illinois-Springfield: Her day doesn“t end at 6 p.m., as it does for some college professors. Cordell sits at her computer in her campus office to chat with a half-dozen students gathered in front of their screens: One is in Tennes
14、see, another in California“s central valley, another in Ohio. They“re all here to talk about Thomas Hardy“s 19th-century novel Tess of the D“Urbervilles. Cordell has a microphone hooked up to her PC, and her students listen from home. All but one of them type their responses, which appear in chat-fo
15、rmat on Cordell“s screen. The process looks kind of awkwardthe natural flow of a regular class is missing, as responses arrive onscreen in a digital flood. But at second glance, there“s something else here not seen in a regular college class: All of the students are paying attention and all are enga
16、ged. Cordell, who is in her 50s, has been teaching offline for 25 years; online for four. She said she was initially skeptical about how meaningful an English course could be online. But now she“s a convert. Online classes conducted in real time have a special kind of immediacy, Cordell Said. “They“
17、re right there. They“re listening. And they like talking to each other, typing to each other. That, I think, is a big attraction, because they get to engage real time with the other students as much as with me,“ Cordell said. After two hours of discussion, Cordell signs off. But the class actually n
18、ever goes to sleep. The students, including a mother of six, will keep the conversation going. This is known as the asynchronous part of the class, and it happens on an online education content management system, where written assignments are posted. That means the work never stopsand many instructo
19、rs say teaching an online class is more work.（分数：25.00）(1).The author takes professor Sara Cordell as an example to illustrate the point that _.（分数：5.00）A.online teaching requires more time and energyB.online teaching is different from regular teachingC.teachers must catch up with the new trends in
20、teachingD.teachers regard online classes as a more efficient teaching(2).What do we learn about Sara Cordell“s students from the passage?（分数：5.00）A.They major in English Literature.B.They are adult evening students.C.They come from places outside the Illinois State.D.They voluntarily take Part In th
21、e online learning.(3).By saying that Cordell is a “convert“, the author means that Cordell finds online teaching _.（分数：5.00）A.significantB.time-savingC.advancedD.efficient(4).Cordell regards it as a great attraction that _.（分数：5.00）A.the students take Part In discussions more activelyB.the students
22、get to engage real time with her online classesC.the students like communicating by typing to each otherD.the students are all present for her classes(5).What happens in the asynchronous part of the class?（分数：5.00）A.The students hand in their written assignment.B.The students keep discussing without
23、 the teacher.C.The students take turns to play the role of the teacher.D.The students sign off after they finish their homework.People appear to be born to compute. The numerical skills of children develop so early and so inexorably (坚定地) that it is easy to imagine an internal clock of mathematical
24、maturity guiding their growth. Not long after learning to walk and talk, they can set the table with impressive accuracyone plate, one knife, one spoon, one fork, for each of the five chairs. Soon they are capable of noting that they have placed five knives, five spoons, and five forks on the table
25、and, a bit later, that this amounts to fifteen pieces of silverware. Having thus mastered addition, they move on to subtraction. It seems almost reasonable to expect that if a child were secluded on a desert island at birth and retrieved seven years later, he or she could enter a second-grade mathem
26、atics class without any serious problems of intellectual adjustment. Of course, the truth is not so simple. In this century, the work of cognitive psychologists has illuminated the subtle forms of daily learning on which intellectual progress depends. Children were observed as they slowly graspedor,
27、 as the case might be, bumped intoconcepts that adults take for granted, as they refused, for instance, to concede that quantity is unchanged as water pours from a short stout glass into a tall thin one. Psychologists have since demonstrated that young children, when asked to count the pencils in a
28、pile, readily report the number of blue or red pencils, but must be coaxed (说服) into finding the total. Such studies have suggested that the rudiments (基本原理) of mathematics are mastered gradually, and with effort. They have also suggested that the very concept of abstract numbersthe idea of a onenes
29、s, a twoness, a threeness that applies to any class of objects and is prerequisite (先决条件) for doing anything more mathematically demanding than setting a tableis itself far from innate,（分数：25.00）(1).After children have helped to set the table with impressive accuracy, they _.（分数：5.00）A.are able to h
30、elp parents serve dishesB.tend to do more complicated houseworkC.are able to figure out the total piecesD.can enter a second-grade mathematics class(2).It is _ to be5eve that the quantity of water keeps unchanged when it is contained in two different glasses.（分数：5.00）A.easy to persuade childrenB.har
31、d for most childrenC.the innate of most childrenD.difficult for both adults and children(3).It can be inferred from the passage that children are likely to _ when they are asked to count all the balls of different colors.（分数：5.00）A.give the accurate answerB.count the balls of each colorC.be too conf
32、used t0 do anythingD.make minor mistakes(4).According to this passage, _ is mastered by birth.（分数：5.00）A.the ability to survive in a desert islandB.the way of setting tablesC.the basic principles of mathematicsD.the concept of oneness(5).What“s the author“s attitude towards “children“s numerical ski
33、lls“?（分数：5.00）A.Critical.B.Approving.C.Questioning.D.Objective.Teenage boys, regardless of race, are more likely to die from gunshot wounds than from all natural causes combined. By the time the average American child leaves elementary school, he or she will witness 8,000 murders and more than 100,0
34、00 acts of violence on television. Youth are becoming involved in violence at an alarming rate. In fact, the youth arrest rate for murder doubled, from 6 arrests per 100,000 youth age 10 to 17 to over 12 per 100,000. The American Psychological Association Commission on Violence and Youth reported on
35、 a study of first and second graders in Washington D.C.: 45% said they had witnessed muggings (行凶抢劫), 31% said they had witnessed shootings, and 39% said they had seen dead bodies. For the many youth who have not been directly exposed to violence in their own communities, the entertainment media (te
36、levision, movies, music and video games) provides many opportunities for children to see and hear violent exchanges. Research shows that there are about 5-6 violent acts per hour on prime time and 20-25 violent acts on Saturday morning children“s programming. In its report, Psychology and You: Viole
37、nce on Television , the American Psychological Association (APA) reported that viewing violence on television hurts children in many ways. In particular, the APA concludes that children may become less sensitive to the pain and suffering of others, be more fearful of the world around them, be more l
38、ikely to behave in aggressive or harmful ways toward others, and gradually accept violence as a way to solve problems. The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry also cautions that children may imitate the violence they observe on television. Another form of violence involving youth is
39、physical punishment in the schools. This form of discipline still remains legally supported in 23 of our nation“s states. The Office for Civil Rights in the Department of Education reported that 555,000 students were physically punished in the schools during this school year. Although such punishmen
40、t has been regarded as an effective method of discipline by those who apply it, the findings are obvious that physical punishment does not work and that children who are victims of physical punishment are subject to potential long-term physical and emotional damage.（分数：25.00）(1).According to the pas
41、sage, the American teenage boys“ lives are most threatened by _.（分数：5.00）A.gun murdersB.natural diseasesC.TV violenceD.physical punishment(2).The author tends to use the fourth paragraph to support the idea that _.（分数：5.00）A.many youth have watched much violence on TVB.youth violence in Washington D
42、.C. is very seriousC.fights may be the most widely-seen youth violenceD.American youth have been exposed to much violence(3).The APA indicates that too much TV violence may change children _.（分数：5.00）A.to become isolated from the worldB.to remain indifferent to others“ painC.to solve problems only b
43、y violenceD.to be fearful of aggressive behaviors(4).The passage does NOT discuss that many youth become victims of _.（分数：5.00）A.murdersB.family violenceC.TV violenceD.school violence(5).The author may most probably agree that physical punishment is _.（分数：5.00）A.acceptable, though ineffectiveB.illeg
44、al, though effectiveC.harmful, though legalD.reasonable, though harmful大学英语四级-98 答案解析(总分：100.00，做题时间：90 分钟)一、Reading Comprehensio(总题数：4，分数：100.00)Sign has become a scientific hot button. Only in the past 20 years have specialists in language study realized that signed languages are uniquea speech of
45、 the hand. They offer a new way to probe how the brain generates and understands language, and throw new light on an old scientific controversy: whether language, complete with grammar, is something that we are born with, or whether it is a learned behavior. The current interest in sign language has
46、 roots in the pioneering work of one rebel teacher at Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C., the world“s only liberal arts university for deaf people. When Bill Stokoe went to Gallaudet to teach English, the school enrolled him in a course in signing. But Stokoe noticed something odd: among thems
47、elves, students signed differently from his classroom teacher. Stokoe had been taught a sort of gestural code, each movement of the hands representing a word in English. At the time, American Sign Language (ASL) was thought to be no more than a form of pidgin English (混杂英语). But Stokoe believed the
48、“hand talk“ his students used looked richer. He wondered: Might deaf people actually have a genuine language? And could that language be unlike any other on Earth? It was 1955, when even deaf people dismissed their signing as “substandard“. Stokoe“s idea was academic heresy (异端邪说). It is 37 years la
49、ter. Stokoenow devoting his time to writing and editing books and journals and to producing video materials on ASL and the deaf cultureis having lunch at a caf near the Gallaudet campus and explaining how he started a revolution. For decades educators fought his idea that signed languages are natural languages like English, French and Japanese. They assumed language must be based on speech, the modulation (调节) of sound. But sign language is based on the movement of hands, the modulation of spac
