1、大学英语四级 232 及答案解析(总分：746.57，做题时间：130 分钟)一、Writing (30 minutes)(总题数：1，分数：30.00)1.A friend of yours called Xiao Lin gave a party yesterday, which you enjoyed. In this section you are required to write an e mail to Xiao Lin to express your appreciation. You should write no more than 120 words and base y
2、our composition on the outline given in Chinese below: 1. 表示感谢她的邀请； 2. 晚会中你喜欢的活动； 3. 建议下次见面的安排。 （分数：30.00）_二、Reading Comprehensio(总题数：1，分数：71.00)A Mystery in the Lunchbox Hungry? Sit down. Were having catfish, corn on the cob, baked potatoes and fresh tomatoes. This might turn out to be the most nut
3、ritious meal of your life. It might even be the best-tasting dinner you ever had. On the other hand, it might induce an allergic (过敏性的) reaction even though you are not allergic to any of these foods. Different Opinions about Biotechnology (生物工程) Products Last weeks announcement that the U.S. federa
4、l government would impose no special regulations on bioengineered foods, in effect permitting them to be marketed exactly like natures own, proclaims a potentially vast change in our food supply. “We will not compromise safety one bit,“ Vice President Dan Quayle told the press. “And consumers will e
5、njoy better, healthier food products at lower prices.“ Many specialists in biotechnology agree in fact, they see consumers around the world benefiting from a new, genetically-engineered green revolution but critics are urging the government to move ahead more cautiously. “We should have learned from
6、 the history of regulating pesticides (杀虫剂) that we never knew the long-term consequences until it was too late,“ says Ellen Haas, executive director of Public Voice for Food and Healthy Policy, a Washington D.C.-based advocacy group. The Food and Drug Administration maintains that most bioengineere
7、d foods present no special safety issues. “Were saying this is just another plant-breeding technique,“ says Eric Flamm, deputy director of the FDAs Office of Biotechnology. How Does Recombination of DNA Work? Heres how bioengineering works: all cells contain DNA, the long molecule (分子) shaped like a
8、 double helix (螺旋). A gene is a swatch (样本) of DNA that controls a certain characteristic of the organism. In the 1970s scientists discovered they could clip off a gene-length swatch from a DNA molecule, and later they learned to affix (固定) it to a different DNA molecule a cut-and-paste job that bec
9、ame known as gene splicing and results in whats called recombinant DNA. Immediately, visions of carrots with the flavor of peanut butter began dancing in the imaginations of scientists and food writers alike. But most current experiments are less exotic (异乎寻常的). In many ways the new technology diffe
10、rs little from traditional crossbreeding. One Product of Bioengineered Technology The first example of recombinant DNA in a form suitable for lunch makes its debut (首次露面) next summer: the Flavr Savr tomato. Scientists at Calgene, Inc., a biotech company based in Davis, California, isolated the gene
11、in the tomato that triggers the enzyme (酶) responsible for rotting and rendered it inactive. Rather man having to be picked hard and green for easy shipping, the tomatoes stay on the vine about five days longer than usual. They can be shipped* without refrigeration, which also helps retain flavor, a
12、nd theyll resist rotting for more man three weeks, twice as long as their conventionally grown cousins. They arent perfect: like other supermarket tomatoes theyre grown with pesticides, they may be waxed, and they still lack the last three to five days of vine-ripening that homegrown tomatoes enjoy.
13、 Sampled at Calgenes headquarters, the Flavr Savr tasted fine; whether consumers still find it worth a dollar more per pound remains to be seen. Developing Pest Resistant Plant Several companies are hard at work on plants that will repel (抵制) pests (害虫). Monsanto, a St. Louis, Missouri, chemical com
14、pany, expects to put many such products on the market before the end of the decade. The weapon of choice is Bacillus thuringiensis, or BT, a soil-dwelling bacterium (细菌) that creates a protein crystal that is toxic to certain insects but harmless digested by humans. BT has been used for 30 years as
15、an organic pesticide. Scientists can transfer the gene for the toxin into plant cells, and the new plants will produce their own insecticides. Like traditional insecticides, however, these may simply spur the creation of new, more resistant pests. According to Belknap, the solution will be to splice
16、 several toxins into a given plant, thus lessening the potential for insects to develop resistance (or inviting the birth of some pretty amazing insects). One Member of the Herbicide (除草剂) Family, and Its Problems Monsanto is also developing herbicide-resistant plants, specifically Roundup-resistant
17、 plants. Roundup is one of Monsantos most lucrative (获利的) products, a herbicide with sales of a billion dollars a year. It has been recognized as noncarcinogenic (非致癌的) by the Environmental Protection Agency, though its toxic to fish. Roundup is used as a weed-killer, but it will kill everything els
18、e it touches in the field, so farmers have had to apply it carefully. Now, however, Monsanto can isolate the enzyme in, say, corn, that is fatally vulnerable to Roundup. A corn plant engineered to have twice as much of that enzyme can lose a chunk of it to Roundup and still survive. Critics charge t
19、hat this technology simply invites fanners to use more Roundup. Good News for the Business but Consumers Are Entitled to Know What They Are Eating Its not surprising that biotechnology companies were delighted by the FDAs green light. Environmentalists and other consumer advocates dont claim the new
20、 foods are unsafe by definition, but they do call for tougher scrutiny (监督) than the FDA believes is necessary. “The regulations do a lot more to protect the industry than they do to protect the American consumers, “says Rebecca Goldburg, a senior scientist at the Environmental Defense Fund, an advo
21、cacy group. “The public has a right to know whats in its food.“ Its Up to the Biotechnology Industry, not FDA Goldbury and other critics are especially concerned about potential allergens that may be hiding in new products an orange touched up with a gene from a cherry, for instance. The FDA require
22、s no special testing or labeling unless the new food is substantially different from its traditional version. A new food containing a “common allergen“ would also have to be labeled, but as examples of common allergens the FDA suggests only eggs, milk, fish, shellfish, tree nuts, wheat and other leg
23、umes. The truth is, almost any food is an allergen (过敏源) to someone. According to the FDA, its up to the biotechnology industry to police itself on potential allergens. “If you move a gene, you have to prove it not allergenic or you will have to label it,“ says Flamm. There Are Better Ways to Produc
24、e Food than Using Biotechnological Methods Other critics are uneasy about making such dramatic changes with such speed. “We ought to be testing these changes in large populations over large periods of time,“ says Greg Drescher, a director of Old-ways Preservation 2000 AD“. Then the scientists went r
25、ound to the (39) 4 schools to talk to the children, basing their (40) 5 on the general questions “What problems are we (41) 6 now?“ and “What will the future be like?“ A pattern soon (42) 7. It showed that there was (43) 8 agreement about which problems were important and how the problems should be
26、dealt with. (44) 9 . (45) 10. Summing up the results of the , one of its leaders said, “Weve obviously got to pay more attention to our children. After all, (46) 11.“ （分数：10.00）填空项 1:_填空项 1:_填空项 1:_填空项 1:_填空项 1:_填空项 1:_填空项 1:_填空项 1:_填空项 1:_填空项 1:_填空项 1:_七、Reading Comprehensio(总题数：2，分数：355.00)Lacking
27、 a cure for AIDS, society must offer education, not only by public pronouncement but in classrooms. Those with AIDS or those at high risk of AIDS suffer prejudice, they are feared by some people who find living itself unsafe, while others conduct themselves with a “bravado (冒险心理)“ that could be fata
28、l. AIDS has afflicted a society already short on humanism, open-handedness and optimism. Attempts to strike it out with the offending microbe are not abetted (教唆) by pre-existing social ills. Such concerns impelled me to offer the first university-level undergraduate AIDS course, with its two import
29、ant aims: To address the fact that AIDS is caused by a virus, not by moral failure or societal collapse. The proper response to AIDS is compassion coupled with an understanding of the disease itself. We wanted to foster(help the growth of) the idea of a humane society. To describe how AIDS tests the
30、 institutions upon which our society rests. The economy, the political system, science, the legal Establishment, the media and our moral ethical-philosophical attitudes must respond to the disease. Those responses, whispered, or shrieked, easily accepted or highly controversial, must be put in order
31、 if the nation is to manage AIDS. Scholars have suggested that how a society deals with the threat of AIDS describes the extent to which that society has the right to call itself civilized. AIDS, then, is woven into the tapestry (挂毯) of modem society; in the course of explaining that tapestry, a tea
32、cher realizes that AIDS may bring about changes of historic proportions. Democracy obliges its educational system to prepare students to become informed citizens, to join their voices to the public debate inspired by AIDS. Who shall direct just what resources of manpower and money to the problem of
33、AIDS? Even more basic, who shall formulate a national policy on AIDS? The educational challenge, then, is to enlighten(启发) the individual and the societal, or public, responses to AIDS. （分数：177.50）(1).What is the passage mainly about?（分数：35.50）A.Why education must be offered about AIDS.B.How to achi
34、eve the aims of AIDS courses.C.Risks associated with AIDS.D.Social responses to AIDS.(2).Why did the author offer the AIDS course?（分数：35.50）A.He wanted to teach people about a cure for AIDS.B.People need to be taught how to avoid those with AIDS.C.He wanted to teach the students that AIDS resulted f
35、rom moral failure.D.People take improper attitudes towards AIDS and those with or at high risk of AIDS.(3).The word “afflict“ in the third sentence of the first paragraph most probably means “_“.（分数：35.50）A.benefitB.cause suffering toC.teachD.draw attention from(4).What does the author think is the
36、correct response to AIDS?（分数：35.50）A.Fear and contempt.B.Optimism and bravado.C.Understanding and compassion.D.Resentment and avoidance.(5).Which of the following can best explain “AIDS tests the institutions upon which our society rests“ according to the passage?（分数：35.50）A.AIDS is a sign of moral
37、failure and social collapse.B.AIDS indicates that our social systems have been very inefficient.C.The responses of a society to the threat of AIDS determines whether and to what extent the society can be called civilized.D.The spreading of the fatal disease suggests that the nation s resources have
38、been wrongly used.Far fewer bouquets(花束) and handwritten messages adorned the gates of the former London home of Diana, Princess of Wales, than a year ago, when the grounds of Kensington Palace became a vest carpet of flowers. But on the anniversary of the car crash that ended Dianas life last Aug.
39、31, some of the cards placed on the wroughtuiron(熟铁,锻铁) bars of the gate were revealing. One read: “They made life hard for you. Now they are copying you. “ “They“ means Queen Elizabeth II and her family, and the message is a reference to a statement for Buckingham Palace a few days earlier saying t
40、hat the royal family had “learned a lesson“ from the public reaction to Dianas death. There would be more informality on royal occasions and less attention to protocol (礼仪), People meeting the queen need no longer bow or curtsy, unless they want to. This is quite a turnaround. In the days immediatel
41、y after Dianas death, it seemed the monarchy was tottering(摇动) and might even fall. A grieving public attacked the royal family for their perceived heartlessness in the face of human tragedy. The family was forced to return from holiday in Scotland and join the London crowds. By angry public demand,
42、 the queen, in a symbolic decision and with obvious reluctance, ordered a flag at half-mast from Buckingham Palace. Prince Charles, Dianas former husband, was a target of savage(尖锐的) public criticism. He was widely perceived as aloof and uncaring. There was talk of excluding him from the succession
43、and passing the crown to his elder son, Prince William. One year later, all that appears to have changed. A late-August opinion poll put public support for Charles at 63 percent, compared with 42 percent at the time of the Paris crash. The queen scored 73 percent. Only 15 percent of those surveyed s
44、aid Britain would be better off without a monarchy. （分数：177.50）(1).What can you infer from the first paragraph?（分数：35.50）A.Kensington Palace used to be the residency of Diana.B.People are sending more flowers to Kensington Palace.C.People were not interested in Dianas death any more.D.There was a va
45、st carpet of flowers in front of Kensington Palace.(2).What did people use to think of Dianas life as a princess?（分数：35.50）A.She lived a busy life.B.She lived a sad life.C.She lived a happy life.D.She lived a lonely life.(3).What is not stated but implied in the third paragraph?（分数：35.50）A.People cr
46、iticized the royal family severely on Dianas death.B.People wanted the royal family to learn a lesson from Dianas death.C.People wanted the royal family to be informal on royal occasions.D.People neednt bow to royal members, unless they want to.(4).Royal family used to pay much attention to the foll
47、owing except_.（分数：35.50）A.formalityB.curtsyC.protocolD.public opinion(5).The Queen Elizabeth II decided to order the flag at half-mast from the Buckingham Palace because_.（分数：35.50）A.she wanted to show her grief to Dianas deathB.she wanted to show respect to DianaC.Diana was used to be the princessD
48、.she was forced to do so by the public opinion八、Section B(总题数：1，分数：10.00)In order to (47) 1 unemployment and why it happens, economists often split unemployment into the following four types. Demand-deficient unemployment (48) 2 when there is not enough demand to employ all those who want to work. It is also often known as cyclical unemployment because it will vary with the trade cycle. When the economy is (49) 3, there will be lots of demand and so firms will be employing large numbers of workers. Demand-deficient unemployme
