1、公共英语四级真题(1)及答案解析(总分：100.00，做题时间：90 分钟)一、Section Listening(总题数：0，分数：0.00)二、Part A(总题数：1，分数：5.00)International Weather Report City High Low Weather Athens 80 1 1. Beijing 2 64 cloudy 2. Cairo 93 73 3 3. Istanbul 86 4 clear 4. New Delhi 5 80 cloudy 5. （分数：5.00）填空项 1:_填空项 1:_填空项 1:_填空项 1:_填空项 1:_三、Part
2、B(总题数：1，分数：5.00)（分数：5.00）(1). The divorce rate in America has reached 1. （分数：1.00）填空项 1:_(2). In the 21st century, most Americans will marry three or four times 1. （分数：1.00）(3). Alvin Toffler published a book named 1. （分数：1.00）(4). The percentage of remarriage among divorced Americans is 1. （分数：1.00
3、）(5). One of the reasons for the change in American marriages is 1. （分数：1.00）四、Part C(总题数：3，分数：10.00)Questions 1113 are based on the following passage about Emily Dickinsona well-known American poet. （分数：3.00）(1).How long did Emily Dickinson five in the house where she was born?（分数：1.00）A.Almost all
4、 her fife.B.Less than half her life.C.Until 1830.D.Before 1872.(2).Which of the following is TRUE of Emily Dickinson?（分数：1.00）A.She was not a productive poet.B.She saw many of her poems published.C.She was not a sociable person.D.She had contact only with a few poets.(3).When was Emily Dickinson wid
5、ely recognized?（分数：1.00）A.After Henry James referred highly to her.B.After seven of her poems were published.C.After her poems became known to others.D.After she had been dead for many years.Questions 1416 are based on the following dialogue. （分数：3.00）(1).What is the woman doing when the man interru
6、pts her?（分数：1.00）A.Taping some music.B.Watching a film.C.Making a video recording.D.Writing a letter.(2).Why is the woman so excited?（分数：1.00）A.She is going to study in another country.B.She received a letter from a Japanese friend.C.She just returned from a trip to Japan.D.She got a job at a travel
7、 agency.(3).Why does the woman feel grateful to Professer Mercheno?（分数：1.00）A.He helped her get into the program.B.He recorded some tapes especially for her.C.He gave her a good grade in her Japanese class.D.He told her about an interesting movie to watch.Questions 1720 are based on the following pa
8、ssage about the history of newspapers. （分数：4.00）(1).How long is it since the first newspaper was printed?（分数：1.00）A.700 years.B.Over 2,000 years.C.About 1,300 years.D.About 380 years.(2).According to the passage, which of the following newspapers have the largest circulation?（分数：1.00）A.English langu
9、age newspapers.B.Chinese language newspapers.C.Japanese language newspapers.D.German language newspapers.(3).Which of the following is NOT mentioned in the passage?（分数：1.00）A.The earliest printed newspaper was developed in Europe.B.It took hundreds of years for newspapers to be developed into their
10、present form.C.Boston is the place where American newspapers were first printed.D.The first American newspaper carried news from both home and abroad.(4).Which of the following can NOT be inferred from the passage?（分数：1.00）A.China developed advanced technology in printing long before any other count
11、ry in the world.B.More people read newspapers in English than in any other languages.C.Japan is the country where people read more newspapers.D.Newspapers have developed quickly in the U. S. since the beginning of the 18th century.五、Section Reading(总题数：0，分数：0.00)六、Part A(总题数：1，分数：22.50)In the years
12、after World War II, Americans typically assumed the full responsibilities of adulthood by their late teens or early 20s. Most young men had 1 school and were working fulltime, and most young women were 2 and raising children. People who grew 3 in this era of growing affluence were economically self-
13、sufficient and able to take care of others by the time they had weathered adolescence. Today, adulthood no longer 4 when adolescence ends. Social scientists are beginning to recognize a new phase of life: early adulthood. Some features of this stage resemble coming of age 5 the late 19th and early 2
14、0th centuries, 6 youth lingered in a state of semi-autonomy, waiting 7 they were sufficiently well-off to marry, have children and establish an independent 8 . However, there are important differences 9 how young people today define and achieve adulthood from those of both the recent and the more di
15、stant past. This new stage is not merely an extension of adolescence, 10 has been maintained in the mass media. Young adults are physically mature and often 11 impressive intellectual, social and psychological skills. Nor are young people today reluctant to accept adult responsibilities. Instead, th
16、ey are busy 12 up their educational credentials and practical skills in an ever more demanding labor market. Yet, many have not become fully adult, 13 they are not ready, or perhaps not permitted, to do 14 . For a growing number, this will not happen until their late 20s or even early 30s. In 15 , A
17、merican society will have to revise upward the “normal“ age of full adulthood, and develop ways to assist young people through the ever-lengthening transition.（分数：22.50）七、Part B(总题数：0，分数：0.00)八、Text 1(总题数：1，分数：7.50)In the last 30 years, science and technology have had a truly dramatic impact on spor
18、ts. There are three major reasons for this. First, new artificial materials have appeared and been used in many sportssometimes to revolutionary effect. Second, our design expertise has improved, partly through the development of computers and other technical tools. We know more and can plan and pre
19、dict more accurately in many critical areas. The third reason why science and technology have had an increasing impact is that there is now the money and the motivation for them to do so. In a variety of ways, sport has become very big business, and in the matter of winning or losing, very large amo
20、unts of money may be at stake. Technology has influenced specific sports in many ways. Wherever a commercial mass market is involved, technical change may be promoted largely for the sake of change, to make this season“s product seem different from that of last season. An example of this trend is in
21、 the endless search for the perfect sports shoe. Anatomically precise support for the heel and ankle, air sacs for extra spring and comfort each year bring apparent new refinements. Even in retirement, basketball“s Michael Jordan remains one of sport“s biggest earners because of the deal he signed e
22、ndorsing the Air Jordan shoe; and one of the richest sportspeople of all, though his winnings these days are minimal, is the veteran golfer Arnold Palmer, thanks to his endorsements of the latest in golf technology. More significant still in modern sports have been more general effects of technologi
23、cal advance. It has provided the means for timing athletes to thousandths of a secondand the means of replaying an event to check who won or to see if a break-rule occurred. It has put sport on television, so millions can watch without moving from their own homes. It has provided the means for testi
24、ng for illegal drugs. It has also, for better or worse, given sportsmen and women a new attitude towards their own bodiesencouraged also by the high stakes, the sponsorship and the fevered media attention. Technology helps them plan the best diet and exercise regimes; it has created heart and lung m
25、onitors that measure stress and oxygen intake; and it allows athletes to keep a constant check on their own physical problems and progress. In terms of nutrition (fuel) and training (maintenance), the modern sportsperson is treatedand treats himself or herselflike a machine.（分数：7.50）(1).According to
26、 the author, sport has become very big business in the sense that（分数：1.50）A.it needs high-tech materials.B.it requires business management.C.it involves the wide use of computers.D.it seems a matter of big money.(2).The example of sports shoes suggests that the technological advances in modern sport
27、s are（分数：1.50）A.encouraged by commercial interests.B.supported by famous sportspeople.C.attributed to basketball performance.D.subjected to computer technology.(3).The text suggests that some of the rich sportsmen（分数：1.50）A.cooperate with companies to develop high-tech sports products.B.are interest
28、ed in promoting the development of science and technology.C.are selfishly earning money by promoting new sports products.D.play a positive role in promoting high-tech sports products.(4).By saying “the modern sportsperson is.like a machine“, the author emphasizes the sense of（分数：1.50）A.rigidity.B.in
29、humanity.C.preciseness.D.automation.(5).The statement that best summarizes the text is（分数：1.50）A.sportspeople seek high-tech products for better performance.B.science and technology have played a significant role in sports.C.science and technology have helped improve the sports environment.D.some sp
30、ortspeople have benefited financially from new technology.九、Text 2(总题数：1，分数：7.50)Most of us Americans have a vague, uneasy sense of wicked wastefulness. We throw out the never-opened pack of food that“s past its sell-by date before answering a call on the fourth mobile phone we have had in five year
31、s. We gaze around our living space groaning at the sheer quantity of little-used clothing, blocking it up like a blood clot in an arterial vein. Our despair is genuine at the way we are running out of the earth“s resources and at the fact that we have so much when two-thirds of the world“s populatio
32、n only just get enough to eat and drink. Yet we feel completely powerless to do anything about it, too busy, irritable and tired to focus on practical steps. For the problem goes even deeper than material wastefulness: We know we are wasting our time, our being, our lives. We have compromised in our
33、 choice of career, lovers, friends; we put on a face to meet the faces that we meet. Trapped in marketing characters, not only in our office politics but in our intimate relationships, too, we play too many games. Deep down, we know that it“s time to “get a fife“, to stop being distracted by pointle
34、ss consumerism, unreal relationships, and “Affluenza-infected“ career ambitions. The first step to salvation is to understand how much it is not your fault. If you read Vance Packard“s 1958 book about the advertising industry, The Hidden Persuaders , it proves that long ago retailers were devising w
35、ays to deliberately deceive us into confusing mixed wants with true needs in order to keep the consumption bandwagon rolling. In recent years, manufacturers have intentionally speeded up the rate at which electronic goods become obsolescent and instead of the proper repair customer services that use
36、d to exist, there are merely expensive help-fines, When your toaster or printer or MP3 music device breaks down after only a year, it is no accident that there is no one who will repair them “it“d cost more than buying a new one, love“. So this is a selfish capitalist system which is designed to max
37、imize profits through rapid turnover of “newer, better“ goods that break down sooner and are designed to be irreparable. It“s not your fault! What you can do is withdraw as much as possible from the consumption game. Every time you are about to buy something ask yourself, “do I need this, or do I ju
38、st Want it?“（分数：7.50）(1).Most Americans, according to the author, feel uneasy about（分数：1.50）A.depending too much on modern technology.B.failing to solve problems in their lives.C.having too little living space.D.wasting too many resources.(2).By saying “we play too many games“, the author wants to s
39、how（分数：1.50）A.we are wasting our lives.B.we make too many mistakes.C.we do not take our life seriously.D.we are too busy enjoying ourselves.(3).To make ourselves feel better, we should first（分数：1.50）A.figure out whom to blame for our excessive consumption.B.avoid making unnecessary purchases in our
40、daily life.C.pick out misleading messages in the advertisement.D.exercise caution when making a big purchase.(4).We learn from Paragraph 5 that（分数：1.50）A.the quality of goods is getting worse recently.B.customers are more often misled nowadays.C.we are deceived into making a purchase.D.advertisers h
41、ave become very clever.(5).The author advises us to buy（分数：1.50）A.more than we need.B.only what we want.C.more than we want.D.only what we need.十、Text 3(总题数：1，分数：7.50)Susan Baroness Greenfield is a British institution. In a country that perceives its scientists as white-coated eccentrics, and probab
42、ly male, Lady Greenfield is fashionable, extravagant, and female. At least, that is the image she has sought to project as a populariser of science. She is accused, though, of bringing another British institution, the Royal Institution (RI), to the verge of bankruptcy. The RI, of which she was direc
43、tor from 1998 until last Friday (January 8th), has made her job redundant. She says she plans to respond with a suit for sexual discrimination. Lady Greenfield, a neuroscientist at Oxford University, was recruited to shake up the two-century-old institution because she had made a name for herself, p
44、articularly on television, as one of the popular faces of science. The RI is, in part, a members“ club famous for its Christmas lectures “adapted to a juvenile audience“, which are broadcast on television every year, and its Friday evening discourses (black ties, please, gentlemen), in which promine
45、nt scientists chat about their work for precisely an hourno more and no lessbefore everyone is served tea and chocolate cake. But it is also a serious research laboratory ( one of the longest-established in the world), looking into things like the medical applications of nanotechnology. Lady Greenfi
46、eld“s offence, if offence it be, was to modernize the RI“s headquarters in Mayfair, one of the most stylish parts of London, without proper cost control. The redecoration included a high-class bar and restaurant that are open to the general public. Sadly, these opened for business in October 2008the
47、 least favorable moment imaginable for such a venture. The redecoration, which cost 22m, much of which was raised by selling the institution“s shares of property, has left the RI 3m in debt, and the trustees have decided that one way to cut costs is to cut the job of director. Lady Greenfield, the f
48、irst female director in a line that stretches back through Michael Faraday to Humphry Davy, seems to suspect that financial considerations were not the only ones when this decision was made. Instead of a director, the RI is to be led by a newly-invented chief executive officer, in the person of Chri
49、s Rofe. Mr. Rofe, who was appointed in April 2009, has a degree in business administration, not science. Given the debt, though, perhaps an alchemist, a person who devotes himself to turning ordinary metals into gold, would be the most appropriate person for the job.（分数：7.50）(1).By saying Lady Greenfield is “a British institution“, the author means（分数：1.50）A.she is well-known in Britain.B.she owns a British association.C.she is suing a British institution.D.she is accused by
