1、公共英语四级-454 及答案解析(总分：100.00，做题时间：90 分钟)一、PART LISTENING COM(总题数：0，分数：0.00)二、SECTION A(总题数：1，分数：10.00)Clocks through TimeIt took human being a long time to invent diverse ways for telling time. About 3000 years ago people first made a circle with a stick in the center of it to (1) the passage of time
2、by noticing various marks on the circle the shadow of the stick fell across.Since these kinds of circles that are called (2) did not work without the sun, men had to find other ways to keep track of time, including a (3) candle on which each stripe took about one hour to melt, a water clock which ha
3、d a line with a number beside it for every hour and an (4) which followed the invention of glass blowing.The first clock with a face and an hour hand was invented about 600 years ago for few people. With the gradually (5) use of clocks, they were beautifully (6) , though they could not keep correct
4、time. Scarcely had clocks been made small enough to be carried when watches came into use.As the beginning of the style of “grandfather clocks, “ which were enclosed in tall wooden boxes, the (7) clock was made in 1657. In 1700, there were clocks with minute and second hands. About 200 years later,
5、a clock is commonly used in every house and a watch is almost used by every (8) gentleman.A newly created clock that shows the time exactly is so - called (9) clock. Nowadays such a clock has more and more complicated functions.(10) as clocks and watches are, time means different things to different
6、 nations.（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:_三、SECTION B(总题数：1，分数：5.00)(1).The interviewer believes that _.A. advertising cant be a kind of lying B. advertising must be a kind of lyingC. advertising is most likely to be a kind of lying D. advertising may b
7、e a kind of lying（分数：1.00）A.B.C.D.(2).How many years has this advertising man been in the ad. business for?A. Fifteen years. B. Sixteen years. C. Fourteen years. D. Ten years.（分数：1.00）A.B.C.D.(3).What kind of work does he find most interesting?A. Making ad. plans. B. Selling products successfully.C.
8、 Developing new markets. D. Making a new product.（分数：1.00）A.B.C.D.(4).What does advertising function as according to this ad. man?A. A determiner that leads people to bring the product into their lives.B. A complete lie that leads people to buy the product.C. As a stable value which makes people bel
9、ieve what the product has.D. As a promotion which makes people aware of the new product.（分数：1.00）A.B.C.D.(5).What will determine that people will continue to use the product?A. The products own worth. B. The products design.C. The .products advertising. D. The proudcts price.（分数：1.00）A.B.C.D.四、SECTI
10、ON C(总题数：3，分数：5.00)（分数：2.00）(1).What news event is reported?A. A bomb threat at a hospital. B. A flood at a school.C. A fire at an apartment building. D. A severe drought famine in a village.（分数：1.00）A.B.C.D.(2).How did the dog help rescue the baby?A. It helped rescue this baby by attracting peoples
11、 attention by barking.B. It helped rescue this baby by pulling the body to safety.C. It helped rescue this baby by comforting the baby until help came.D. It helped rescue this baby by waking up the baby by ringing the bell.（分数：1.00）A.B.C.D.（分数：2.00）(1).General Ban Ki-moon is urging the Burmese gover
12、nment toA hold the constitutional referendum. B allow in foreign search and rescue teams.C accept international aid right away. D adopt John Holmes suggestions.（分数：1.00）A.B.C.D.(2).John Holmes thought that the Burmese government could be more _following the constitutional referendum.A naive B feasib
13、le C open D elastic（分数：1.00）A.B.C.D.1.Why has the rate of new phone purchases slowed in Europe?A. Because of the warning about sales.B. Because the customers are reluctant to trade up to new handsets.C. Because of cutting into demand for handsets.D. Because of the US slowdown.（分数：1.00）A.B.C.D.五、PART
14、 READING COMPR(总题数：0，分数：0.00)六、TEXT A(总题数：1，分数：4.00)Since the late 1970s, in the face of a severe loss of market share in dozens of industries, manufacturers in the United States have been trying to improve productivity and therefore enhance their international competitiveness through costcutting pr
15、ograms. (Cost-cutting here is definding the amount of labor constant.) However, from 1978 through 1982, productivity- the value of goods manufactured divided by the amount of labor input- did not improve; and while the results were better in the business upturn of the three years following, they ran
16、 25 percent lower than productivity improvements during earlier, post-1945 upturns. At the same, it became clear that the harder manufactures worked to implement costcutting, the more they lost their competitive edge. With this paradox in mind, I recently visited 25 companies; it became dear to me t
17、hat the costcutting approach to increasing productivity is fundamentally flawed. Manufacturing regularly observes a“ 40, 40,20“ rule, roughly 40 percent of any manufacturing-based competitive advantage derives from long-term changes in manufacturing structure (decisions about the number, size, locat
18、ion, and capacity of facilities) and in approaches to materials. Another 40 percent comes from major changes in equipment and process technology. The final 20 percent rests on implementing conventional costcutting. This rule does not be tried. The well-known tools of this approach- including simplif
19、ying jobs and retraining employees to work smarter, not harder-do produce results. But the tools quickly reach the limits of what they can contribute. Another problem is that the cost-cutting approach hinders innovation and discourages creative people. As Abernathys study of automobile manufacturers
20、 has shown, an industry can easily become prisoner of its own investments in costcutting techniques, reducing its ability to develop new products. And managers under pressure to maximize cost-cutting will resist innovation because they know that more fundamental changes in processes or systems will
21、wreak havoc with the results on which they are measured, production managers have always seen their job as one of minimizing costs and maximizing output. This dimension of performance has until recently sufficed as a basis of evaluation, but it has created a penny pinching, mechanistic culture in mo
22、st factories that has kept away creative managers.Every company I know that has freed itself from the paradox has done so, in part, by developing and implementinga manufacturing strategy. Such a strategy facturing and implementing a manufacturing strategy. Such a strategy focuses on the manufacturin
23、g structure and on equipment and process technology. In one company a manufacturing strategy that allowed different areas of the factory to specialize in different markets replaced the conventional cost-cutting approach, within three years the company regained its competitive advantage. Together wit
24、h such strategies, successful companies are also encouraging managers to focus on a wider set of objectives besides cutting costs. There is hope for manufacturing, but it clearly rests on a different way of managing.（分数：4.00）(1).The author of the passage is primarily concerned with _.A. summarizing
25、a thesisB. recommending a different approachC. comparing points of viewD. making a series of predictions（分数：1.00）A.B.C.D.(2).The authors attitude toward the culture is most factories in best described as _.A. cautiousB. criticalC. disinterestedD. respectful（分数：1.00）A.B.C.D.(3).in the passage, the au
26、thor includes all of the following EXCEPT _.A. a business principleB. a definition of productivityC. an example of a successful companyD. an illustration of a process technology.（分数：1.00）A.B.C.D.(4).The author suggests that implementing manufacturing competitiveness is a strategy that is _.A. flawed
27、 and ruinousB. shortsighted and difficult to sustainC. popular and easily accomplishedD. useful but inadequate（分数：1.00）A.B.C.D.七、TEXT B(总题数：1，分数：3.00)The arms race that has darkened our century with fear and peril may finally be slowing. Weapons have been with us a long time. From personal combat at
28、 the very beginning of history to the impersonality of modern warfare, there has been a dynamic escalation in the complexity and specialization of attack and defense. From hand weapons and shields to ballistic missiles and Star Wars, offensive and defensive armaments have co-evolved.While arms races
29、 have been with us for millennia, nothing compares to the wasteful absorption of human talents and the costs in lives, talents, resources, and energy of the past 50 years of war, pseudowar and escalation in deterrence by mutually assured destruction. This has been the killing century.But as we refle
30、ct on the linked interdependence of attack and defense in our century, we need to remember that life on Earth has been involved in a biological arms race for hundreds of millions of years. Compared with that ancient process, the military arms race is but a blink in the eye of history. For a very bri
31、ef period before the killing started billions of years ago, there was “innocence.“ At lifes beginning the very first prot-organisms, formed in the “primordial soup,“ obtained their energy from inorganic sources. Once living things existed, however, some became food sources for others. Life came to e
32、at life, and attack and defense originated on Earth.（分数：3.00）(1).According to the passage, human competition to develop the best weaponsA. began in the 20th century. B. escalated in the 20th century.C. is a modern phenomenon. D. is genetically predetermined.（分数：1.00）A.B.C.D.(2).When the author refle
33、cts on the “linked interdependence of attack and defense,“ he suggests thatA. their origin preceded life.B. their development is precipitated by one another.C. their existence is dependent on human aggression.D. their escalation cannot be halted.（分数：1.00）A.B.C.D.(3).In this passage the author appare
34、ntly intends toA. write a fictionalized account of evolution.B. be scientifically precise.C. raise philosophical issues.D. convince readers that war is inevitable.（分数：1.00）A.B.C.D.八、TEXT C(总题数：1，分数：5.00)Last month Hanson Transmissions International, a maker of gearboxes for wind turbines, was listed
35、 on the London Stock Exchange. Nothing noteworthy about that, you might say, despite the jump in the share price on the first day of trading and the handsome gain since: green technology is all the rage, is it not? But Hanson exemplifies another trend too, which should prove every bit as durable: th
36、e rise of multinational companies from emerging economies. Its parent is Suzlon, an Indian firm that began life as a textile manufacturer but is now among the worlds five leading makers of wind turbines. Along the way, Suzlon has acquired not only Hanson, originally Belgian, but also REpower, a Germ
37、an wind-energy firm, spending over $ 2 billion on the pair.The world is now replete with Suzlons: global companies from emerging economies buying businesses in rich countries as well as in poorer places. Another Indian company, Tata Motors, looks likely to add to the list soon, by buying two grand o
38、ld names of British carmaking, Jaguar and Land Rover, from Americas enfeebled Ford. As a symbol of a shift in economic power, this is hard to match.Economic theory says that this should not happen. Richer countries should export capital to poorer ones, not the other way round. Economists have had to
39、 get used to seeing this turned on its head in recent years, as rich countries have run large current-account deficits and borrowed from China and other emerging economies (notably oil exporters) with huge surpluses. Similarly, foreign direct investment (FDI) - the buying of companies and the buildi
40、ng of factories and offices abroad-should also flow from rich to poor, and with it managerial and entrepreneurial prowess.It is not yet time to tear up the textbook on FDI. According to the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), in 2006 the flow of FDI into developing economies exceeded th
41、e outflow by more than $ 200 billion. But the transfer of finance and expertise is by no means all in one direction. Developing economies accounted for one-seventh of FDI outflows in 2006, most of it in the form of takeovers. Indian companies have done most to catch the eye, but firms from Brazil, C
42、hina and Mexico, in industries from cement to consumer electronics and aircraft manufacture, have also gone global. Up to a point, emerging-market multinationals have been buying Western know-how. But they have been bringing managerial and entrepreneurial skill, as well as just money, to the compani
43、es they buy: British managers bear grudging witness to the financial flair of Mexican cement bosses; Boeing and Airbus may have learnt a thing or two from the global supply chains of Brazils Embraer.Perhaps no one should be surprised. Half a century ago, Japan was a poor country: today Sony and Toyo
44、ta are among the best-known and mightiest companies on the planet. South Korea and Taiwan are still listed as developing countries in UNCTADs tables, but that seems bizarrely outdated for the homes of Samsung and Taiwan Semiconductor. Now another generation is forming. To its critics, globalisation
45、may be little more than a licence for giant Western companies to colonise the emerging world, yet more and more firms from poorer economies are planting their flags in rich ground.Alas, further liberalisation is not certain. The Doha round of global trade talks has been bogged down, partly in squabb
46、les about farm trade but also over industrial tariffs in the emerging world. The services negotiations are half-hearted and direct talks on FDI were ruled out long ago, largely because of developing countries fears about rich invaders. And the gains forgone are considerable: a new book by the World
47、Bank estimates that reforming services in developing countries could raise their growth rates by a percentage point. Were OECD countries to allow temporary immigration of skilled workers in service industries, the global gains might exceed $ 45 billion.A few emerging-market giants-notably Indias sof
48、tware firms-have been prepared to stand up for liberalisation. But most have not made their voices heard. How sad for free trade: such companies would provide much better illustrations of the success of globalisation than the familiar Western names do (unless you think Coca-colonisation sounds reall
49、y cool). And how short-sighted of them. Even if some of these adolescents grew up behind tariff barriers, that represents their past: their future will surely lie in global markets. If the Doha round fails, the next opportunity may be a long time coming.（分数：5.00）(1).Which of the following is NOT true about Hansen Transmissions International?A Its a mul
