1、大学英语四级阅读-27 及答案解析(总分：100.00，做题时间：90 分钟)一、BReading Compreh(总题数：0，分数：0.00)二、BSection A/B(总题数：2，分数：20.00)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 passag
2、e through carefully before making your choices. Each choice in the bank is identified by a letter. You may not use any of the words in the bank more than once.The economic costs of noise are several. Airports are currently operating at less than U U 1 /U /Ubecause of noise regulations which restrict
3、 their hours of operation. For instance, at Washingtons National Airport no jet traffic is allowed from 11 pm to 7 am. Other airports restrict the use of certain runway. One estimate is that noise U U 2 /U /Ureduce possible airport use by 20 percent. The U U 3 /U /Ucargo trade is especially affected
4、 by night restrictions.In the case of airports, jet engines may be U U 4 /U /Uto reduce their noise level, or insulation from air traffic noise may be provided by the purchase of land around airports or the insulation of buildings. One estimate is that $5.7 billion would be required to U U 5 /U /Ual
5、l existing jet engines with noise control devices. However, U U 6 /U /Uthe current state of the art, even taking this step will not reduce noise levels at all points to U U 7 /U /Uvalues. Some combination of methods is probably necessary.If all aircraft were made quieter by existing methods, there w
6、ould be a number of economic benefits. An increase in airport capacity would U U 8 /U /U. Property values near airports might rise. Transportation costs to and from airports could be reduced since the airports now could be located closer to population center.Much research still needs to be done on t
7、he economic U U 9 /U /Uof noise reduction and noise effects. Although some of the effects of noise pollution are known, more must be discovered about its effects on health, productivity, property values and the quality of life. U U 10 /U /U, the cost of noise pollution control to the economy as a wh
8、ole needs to be investigated.Aidentification Bequip Cprofitable DcapacityEpollution Frestrictions Gtransformed HsignificantIfurthermore Jacceptable Kmodified LaccordinglyMconsidering Noccur Oaspects（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:_The song “Happy birthd
9、ay to you“ is sung all over the world just before the birthday boy or girl blows out the candles on the cake. It is so simple that children as young as three can sing it without U U 11 /U /U. The song, with its U U 12 /U /Utitle “Good Morning to You“, was written in 1893 by the two sisters, Mildred
10、and Patty Smith Hill. They were the daughters of a (an) U U 13 /U /UKentucky couple, who believed in female education at a timethe mid-nineteenth centurywhen it was still a U U 14 /U /Uidea and who trained their two daughters to be schoolteachers. They were long involved in elementary education. A b
11、irthday cake with U U 15 /U /Ucandles is also indispensable at ones birthday party. It may derive, U U 16 /U /U, from the ancient Greek practice of offering to Artemis, goddess of the moon, a round honey cake into which a candle was stuck. After German bakers U U 17 /U /Uthe modern birthday cake in
12、the Middle Ages, a similar U U 18 /U /Uwas adopted for happiness at birthdays. The candle-blowing-out custom may be associated with double meaning at birthdays. Some people believe that each birthday is another step toward the end, and what we U U 19 /U /Uat birthday gatherings is not only our growt
13、h, but our transience. Thus, candles at birthdays are U U 20 /U /Uof life and death, hopes and fears, increase and loss, and so on.Ainvented Baccelerate Cold DsymbolsEhesitation Fprogressive Gcelebrate HdistantlyIoriginal Jnovel Kapparently LburningMprevented Ncustom Osubstitute（分数：10.00）填空项 1:_填空项
14、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:_三、BSection B/B(总题数：2，分数：40.00)Directions: In this section, you are going to read a passage with ten statements attached to it. Each statement contains information given in one of the paragraphs. Identify the paragraph from which the informat
15、ion is derived. You may choose a paragraph more than once. Each paragraph is marked with a letter.Family SociologyAThe structure of the family and the needs that the family fulfills vary from society to society. The nuclear familytwo adults and their childrenis the main family unit in most western s
16、ocieties. In others, especially in Asian societies, it is a subordinate part of an extended family unit, which also consists of grandparents and other relatives. A third type of family unit, which is becoming more prevalent, is the single-parent family, in which children live with an unmarried, divo
17、rced, or widowed mother or father.BThe family unit began primarily as an economic unit; men hunted, while women gathered and prepared food and tended children. Infanticide and expulsion (驱逐) of the infirm (体弱，虚弱) who could not work were common. Later, with the advent of Christianity, marriage and ch
18、ildbearing became central concerns in religious teaching. However, after the Reformation, which began in the 1500s, the purely religious nature of family ties was partly abandoned in favor of civil bonds. Today, most western nations now recognize the family relationship as primarily a civil matter r
19、ather than a religious one.CThe modem family differs from earlier traditional forms, primarily in its functions, composition, and life cycle and in the roles of husbands and wives. Many of the functions that were once performed by or within the traditional family unit are performed by or within comm
20、unity institutions, e.g., economic production (work), education, and recreation. In the modern family, members now work in different occupations and in locations away from the home. Education is provided by the state or by private groups. Organized recreational activities often take place outside th
21、e home. The family is still responsible for the socialization of children. Even in this capacity, however, the influence of peers and of the mass media has assumed a larger role.DFamily composition in industrial societies has also changed dramatically. The average number of children born to a woman
22、in the United States, for example, fell from 7.0 in 1800 to 2.0 by the early 1990s. Consequently, the number of years separating the births of the youngest and the oldest children has declined. This has occurred in conjunction with increased longevity. In earlier times, marriage normally dissolved t
23、hrough the death of a spouse before the youngest child left home. Today husbands and wives potentially have about as many years together after the children leave home as before.EDuring the 20th century, extended family households declined in prevalence. This change is associated particularly with in
24、creased residential mobility and with diminished financial responsibility of children for aging parents, as pension from jobs and government-sponsored benefits for retired people became more common.FBy the 1970s, the prototypical nuclear family had yielded somewhat to modified structure including th
25、e one-parent family, the stepfamily, and the childless family. One-parent families in the past were usually the result of the death of a spouse. Now, however, most one-parent families are the result of divorce, although some are created when unmarried mothers bear children. In 1991, more than one ou
26、t of four children lived with only one parent, usually themother. Most one-parent families, however, eventually became two-parent families through remarriage.GA stepfamily is created by a new marriage of a single parent. It may consists of a parent and children and a childless spouse, a parent and c
27、hildren and a spouse whose children live elsewhere, or two joined one-parent families. In a stepfamily, problems in relations between non-biological parents and children may generate tension; the difficulties can be especially great in the marriage of single parents when the children of both parents
28、 live with them as siblings (兄弟，姐妹).HChildless families may be increasingly the result of deliberate choice and the availability of birth control. For many years, the proportion of couples that were childless declined steadily as venereal and other diseases that cause infertility (不能生育) were conquer
29、ed. In the 1970s, however, the changes in the status of women reversed this trend. Couples often select to have no children or to postpone having them until their careers are well established. Since the 1960s, several variations on the family unit have emerged. More unmarried couples are living toge
30、ther, before or instead of marrying. Some elderly couples, most often widowed, are finding it more economically practical to cohabit without marrying.IAll industrial nations are experiencing family trends similar to those found in the United States. The problems of unwed mothersespecially very young
31、 ones and those who are unable to support themselvesand their children is an international one, although improved methods of birth control and legalized abortion have slowed the trend somewhat. Divorce is increasing even where religious and legal impediments (阻碍) to it are strongest. Unchecked popul
32、ation growth in developing nations threatens the family system. The number of surviving children in a family has rapidly increased as infectious disease, famine, and other causes of child mortality have been reduced. Because families often cannot support so many children, the reduction in infant mor
33、tality has posed a challenge to the nuclear family and to the resources of developing nations.（分数：20.00）(1).The average number of children born to a woman in the United States has declined dramatically during the last two centuries.（分数：2.00）填空项 1:_(2).Today, most one-parent families are caused by di
34、vorce, while some are created when unmarried mothers bear children.（分数：2.00）填空项 1:_(3).Divorce is on the rise even where religious and legal impediment to it is the strongest.（分数：2.00）填空项 1:_(4).Presently, most western countries view the family relationship as essentially a civil matter rather than
35、a religious one.（分数：2.00）填空项 1:_(5).The modern family is different from earlier traditional forms, mainly in its functions, composition, roles of husbands and wives, etc.（分数：2.00）填空项 1:_(6).There are three types of basic family structures in modern societynuclear family, extended family and single-p
36、arent family.（分数：2.00）填空项 1:_(7).During the 20th century, extended family households were not as prevalent as before.（分数：2.00）填空项 1:_(8).Some elderly couples prefer to live together without marriage because it is more economically practical.（分数：2.00）填空项 1:_(9).There are many problems in relations be
37、tween non-biological parents and children in a stepfamily.（分数：2.00）填空项 1:_(10).Peer influence and mass media have assumed a larger role in the socialization of children.（分数：2.00）填空项 1:_Forest Fire: A Major DisasterAIn the decade that ended in 1950, more than 1,834,000 forest fires occurred in the Un
38、ited States. They occurred at the rate about 500 per day. They burned over an average of 21,622,000 acres each year, an area larger than the State of Maine. They caused direct damage to timber and property estimated at $392,000,000. They took scores of human lives.BThe great majority of forest fires
39、, especially in the East and South, are “surface fires,“ burning mostly leaves on the forest floor. Promptly attacked with adequate manpower and equipment, such fires are fairly easy to control. But nearly every small forest fire is possibly a big one. If a combination of dry weather and high winds
40、occurs, a forest fire may spread with explosive violence, roaring through the trees faster than a man can run, producing waves of heat and gas that fan the flames to even greater fury. A really bad forest fire is a terrifying thing. It will destroy nearly everything in its path. That was what happen
41、ed when the Peshtigo fire in Wisconsin in 1871, wiped out whole settlement and killed 1,500 persons, when the great Idaho fires of 1910 wiped out several millions acres of virgin timber in a few days. It happened when the Tillamook fire in Oregon in 1933 killed as much timber as was cut in the entir
42、e United States the preceding year. It happened in Maine in 1947 when forest fires destroyed more than 800 homes. It can happen again. Given the right combination of weather and fuels, big and destructive forest fires are still possible in many parts of the world.CA surface fire, consuming the dry l
43、eaves, grass, small trees, and shrubs and brushes on the forest floor, may not kill many of the larger tree, but it will kill seedlings (刚出芽的幼苗) and small trees. Most fires start as surface fires but may develop into other types.DSometimes fires burn deep below the surface in the thick layer of deca
44、yed leaves or needles, or in much soil that have become dry. Giving off very little smoke between surface outbreaks, such “good fires“ may burn days or weeks before being discovered, and it is difficult to know when they may safely be declared out. Ground fires are common in northern forests. These
45、fires usually kill most of the trees in their way, for although they burn slowly they produce great heat beneath the surface.EIt is usually the “crown fire,“ or combined surface and crown fire, that causes the greatest timber and property damage, and loss of human life. Such a fire is usually the st
46、art of a surface fire which, driven by a strong wind, leaps into the tree tops and sweeps through the timber, often even jumping across open fields or large rivers. Crown fires occur mostly in coniferous (针叶树的) forests, for the green leaves of hardwoods do not easily get on fire. These fires may, however, run through forests of mixed hardwoods and conifers (针叶树). Usually they create showers of flying embers (余烬) which set fires far in advance. Crown fires may kill all the trees over wide areas, and they may destroy farm homes and villages.FLosses of merchantable timber and property are dir
