1、公共英语四级-148 及答案解析(总分：79.00，做题时间：90 分钟)一、Section Use of Eng(总题数：1，分数：20.00)Although the size of the workforce depends a great deal on the size of the total population, there are several other influences which also affect it. The age distribution of the total population has a very 1 effect on the avail
2、able workforce. If the population has a high 2 of very young people or of 3 too old to work, then the available workforce would be lower than 4 there were an 5 spread age distribution. If the population grows raidly 6 natural increase, i.e., the number of births greatly 7 the number of deaths, then
3、as a total population increases the proportion of the workforce 8 . Sometimes a population is described as aging, 9 means that the birth rate is either falling or growing very slowly, and as people retire 10 the workforce there are insufficient numbers of young people entering it to 11 those who are
4、 leaving it. The population is top heavy with older people. So the 12 of the population in the workforce declines when there is 13 a rapid increase in births or a falling birth rate. The age distribution of the population has several important effects on the economy. If the population is aging and t
5、here is an increase in the number of people retiring 14 a corresponding increase in the number entering the workforce, this raises the problem of the ability of the economy to provide a 15 level of social services to the retired group. If the 16 are to be cared 17 in special homes or hotels, finance
6、 must be 18 for that purpose. If the size of the workforce is small relative 19 the total population, then the government tax receipts are relatively low and either the government has less money available to it or the workforce members have to be 20 more heavily.（分数：20.00）A.littleB.markedC.muchD.lot
7、A.portionB.correlationC.proportionD.approximationA.thoseB.onesC.whoD.thatA.whenB.ifC.unlessD.otherwiseA.evenlyB.oddlyC.smoothlyD.decentlyA.withB.toC.upD.fromA.sustainsB.exceedsC.overwhelmsD.overthrowsA.declinesB.refusesC.rejectsD.inclinesA.thisB.thatC.itD.whichA.toB.intoC.fromD.outA.supplementB.repl
8、aceC.facilitateD.implementA.shareB.percentageC.allocationD.propertyA.neitherB.noneC.bothD.eitherA.withB.withoutC.uponD.afterA.reasonableB.sensibleC.predictableD.workableA.agingB.agedC.retiringD.youngA.forB.aboutC.ofD.afterA.feasibleB.availableC.practicableD.tractableA.aboutB.toC.ofD.forA.loadedB.imp
9、osedC.taxedD.executed二、Section Reading Co(总题数：0，分数：0.00)四、Passage 1(总题数：1，分数：5.00)Would you like to orbit the Earth inside the International Space Station? Now you can take a space holidayfor a price. This is due to a recent decision by top space officials of the United States, Russia, Canada, Japan
10、 and the European Space Agency. Last April, American businessman Dennis Tito reportedly paid between twelve million and twenty million dollars to spend one week on the International Space Station. NASA had strongly objected to the Russian plan to permit a civilian on the costly research vehicle. Aft
11、er two years of negotiations, space officials have agreed on a process to train private citizens to take trips to the International Space Station. NASA recently agreed to conditions that will permit Russia to sell trips to the space station. The trips are planned by an American company called Space
12、Adventures Limited of Arlington, Virginia. The company calls itself “the world“s leading space tourism company“. The company has sold a space trip to Mark Shuttle-worth , a South African businessman. In April, Mr Shuttleworth will be launched into space from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Ex
13、perts say the change in policy at NASA shows a new desire to use space vehicles for business and industrial purposes. In a speech to Congress last year, NASA official Michael Hawes said that the space agency had not considered civilian travel as one of the industries it wanted to develop. However, M
14、r Hawes said that private space travel could now be done as long as safety measures are observed carefully. Yet, the average citizen will not be able to travel into space in the near future. Space Adventures Limited sells a training program for space flight that costs two hundred thousand dollars. T
15、hat price does not include the cost of the trip to the International Space Station. That holiday in space costs twenty million dollars. Candidates for adventure space travel trips must be in excellent heaith and must pass difficult health tests. They must receive a lot of training. Besides, good Eng
16、lish can help you prepare for a space holiday. This is because all successful candidates who wish to travel to the International Space Station must be able to read and speak English.（分数：5.00）(1).At first, NASA is_private citizen“s space travel.（分数：1.00）A.forB.againstC.indifferent toD.hesitant about(
17、2).The time between American businessman Dennis Tito“s and a South African businessman Mark Shuttleworth“s space travel is_.（分数：1.00）A.one yearB.two yearsC.three yearsD.four years(3).NASA thinks space travellers must_to do private space travel.（分数：1.00）A.observe safety measures carefullyB.have a new
18、 desire to use space vehicles for civilian travelC.negotiate with Russia or NASAD.be as rich as Dennis Tito and Mark Shuttleworth(4).If a person really wants to go to the space station,he or she should spend_in total.（分数：1.00）A.$ 200000B.twelve million dollarsC.twenty million dollarsD.more than twen
19、ty million dollars(5).Those who want to travel in the space should _.（分数：1.00）A.afford the expenses of the space tripB.pass the health check and physical trainingC.speak EnglishD.alI of the above五、Passage 2(总题数：1，分数：5.00)In the 1960s the West Coast became an important center for rock music. Los Ange
20、les and Southern California are famous for sunshine and surfing. There, a quieter kind of rock called surf rock became famous. The Beach Boys sang songs like “Surfin“ U. S. A.“, “California Girls“ and “Fun, Fun, Fun“. These songs made people dream about the good life in California. San Francisco was
21、 a center for young people and rock music in the late 1960s. This was the time of the Vietnam War, student protest, hippies, and drugs. Hippies talked about love and peace. They wore brightly colored clothes and had long hair. They listened to rock and folk-rock music. Drugs were a serious problem d
22、uring that time. The deaths of three young rock stars, Janis Jopling, Jim Morrison and the great guitar player Jim Hendrix were all related to drugs. Not all of the rock musicians came from California or the U. S. A That was the time of the great British rock groups like the Beatles and the Rolling
23、Stones. British rock musicians had a very important place in the rock music of the 1960s in America. Another kind of softer rock music was created by the singers. Singers like Joni Mitchell and James Taylor wrote their own lyrics and their own music. Their songs were about love and friendship, good
24、and bad times. In the 1960s big rock concerts were very welcomed by everyone. The most famous concert was Woodstock. In 1969 in New York State, a million young people came together to hear the rock stars. This peaceful Woodstock concert was the most important musical event of the 1960s. After World
25、War a great number of black people moved from the South to the big industrial cities like New York, Detroit, and Philadelphia. Many black people lived in poor parts of the city such as Harlem in New York. Musicians wrote and sang about life in the big cities. Life was difficult but music and dancing
26、 made it a little easier. Popular black music had a strong beat for dancing. At first this music was called rhythm and blues. The 1960s called it soul. In Detroit, a black musician named Berry Gordy set up an all black record company. It was called Motown. Motown or motor town is another name for De
27、troit, where cars are made. Most of the famous soul musicians like the Supremes, the Temptations, and the Jackson Five recorded with Motown.（分数：5.00）(1).Where in the United States did pop music first emerge?（分数：1.00）A.The West.B.New York.C.The South.D.San Francisco.(2).What was the war affair in lat
28、e 1960s that made many American young people love to take up pop music?（分数：1.00）A.The Korean War.B.The Word War .C.The Vietnam War.D.The Gulf War.(3).The term “Hippies“ refers to（分数：1.00）A.three young rock stars.B.four Liverpool boys.C.the rock group of the Rolling Stones.D.the lost generation.(4).A
29、merican rock music of the 1960s was greatly influenced by（分数：1.00）A.American country music.B.British rock music.C.Hollywood film music.D.the Hippies.(5).How did the black people feel about the pop music in the 1960s?（分数：1.00）A.Terrible.B.Humiliating.C.Enjoyable.D.Holy.六、Passage 3(总题数：1，分数：4.00)Opini
30、on polls are now beginning to show an unwilling general agreement that, whoever is to blame and whatever happens from now on, high unemployment is probably here to stay. This means we shall have to find ways of sharing the available employment more widely. But we need to go further. We must ask some
31、 fundamental questions about the future of work. Should we continue to treat employment as the norm? Should we not create conditions in which many of us can work for ourselves, rather than for an employer? Should we not aim to revive the household and the neighbourhood, as well as the factory and th
32、e office, as centres of production and work? The industrial age has been the only period of human history in which most people“s work has taken the form of jobs. The industrial age may now be coming to an end, and some of the changes in work patterns which it brought about may have to be reversed. T
33、his seems a discouraging thought. Bat, in fact, it could offer the prospect of a better future for work: Universal employment, as its history shows, has not meant economic freedom. Employment became widespread when the enclosures of the 17th and 18th centuries made many people dependent on paid work
34、 by depriving them of the use of the land, and thus of the means to provide a living for themselves. Then the factory system destroyed the cottage industries and removed work from people“s homes. Later, as transport improved, first by rail and then by road, people travelled longer distances to their
35、 places of employment until, eventually, many people“s work lost all connection with their home lives and places in which they lived. Meanwhile, employment put women at a disadvantage. It became customary for the husband to go out paid employment, leaving the unpaid work of the home and family to hi
36、s wife. All this may now have to change. The time has certainly come to switch some effort and resources away from the impractical goal of creating jobs for all, to the urgent practical task of helping many people to manage without full-time jobs.（分数：4.00）(1).What idea did the author derive from the
37、 recent opinion polls?（分数：0.80）A.New jobs must be created in order to rectify high unemployment figures.B.Available employment should be restricted to a small percentage of the population.C.The present high unemployment figures are a fact of life.D.Jobs available must be distributed among more peopl
38、e.(2).The passage suggests that we should now re-examine our thinking about work and _.（分数：0.80）A.be prepared to fill in time by taking up houseworkB.set up smaller private enterprises so that we in turn can employ othersC.create more factories in order to increase our productivityD.be prepared to a
39、dmit that being employed is not the only kind of work(3).The passage tells us that the arrival of the industrial age meant that _.（分数：0.80）A.economic freedom came within everyone“s reachB.patterns of work were fundamentally changedC.to survive, everyone had to find a jobD.universal employment guaran
40、teed prosperity(4).As a result of the enclosures of the 17th and 18th centuries, _.（分数：0.80）A.people were not adequately compensated for the loss of their landB.people were no longer legally entitled to reclaim landC.people were badly paid for the work they managed to findD.people were forced to loo
41、k elsewhere for means of supporting themselves(5).According to the passage, which of the following is true?（分数：0.80）A.People should start to support themselves by learning a practical skill.B.The creation of jobs for all is an impossibility.C.We should help people to get full-time jobs.D.We must mak
42、e every effort to solve the problem of unemployment.七、Passage 4(总题数：1，分数：20.00)Nelson Mandela, the remarkable South African who passed away on Thursday at 95, has made a great contribution to the world, especially to his motherland. Mandela led his people to freedom, ending the apartheid rule of Sou
43、th Africa“s brutal white-minority regime. But neither of those men, nor the others mentioned here, was put to such an extraordinary personal test. All you need to know to grasp the uniqueness of Mandela is this: he spent 27 years in prison, most of them in solitary confinement pounding rocks at the
44、notorious Robben Island prison. He was given no hope and allowed little contact with the outside world. Yet instead of yielding to his plightor betraying his cause by speaking a few words that could have set him freehe persevered, leading in absentia against all odds and emerging victories. At his m
45、oment of triumph, with the presidency of South Africa in his hands, he sought not revenge for all that had been done to him but racial peace for his people, black or white, which incredibly he achieved. Such is the power of history“s few truly great leaders and the examples they set. If Mandela coul
46、d suffer as he did without seeking vengeance, then how could others do any less? And how could the nation“s fearful and suspicious white minority turn away the olive branch? Whether Mandela“s legacy can endure remains an open question. Unlike the United States at its founding, South Africa has not b
47、een blessed with a succession of great leaders. Since Mandela“s retirement in 1999, the presidency has been held by a succession of lackluster men, and so the deep problems left behind by apartheid have festered. Crime and illiteracy are rampant, as is corruption. The unemployment rate is 25%, and f
48、ar worse among the young. Life expectancy, barely over 50 years, is among the world“s lowest. As long as Mandela survived, even with his capacity ravaged by his age and the harshness of his life, the simmering South African cauldron could not bubble over. No one dared upset their beloved Madiba. Per
49、haps that cannot last. What South Africa needs, like so many other strife-torn nations, is another Mandela. But such leaders are the rarest of things. But they are remembered, admired to the extent that they are emulated, their impact lives on. No one will soon forget Nelson Mandela, if not the greatest man of the 20th century, certainly the most extraordinary.（分数：20.00）(1).Based on the first 2 paragraphs, which of the following is true?（分数：4.00）A.Mandela submitted himself to difficulty.B.One third of Mandela“s life was spent in prison.C.Mandel
