1、专业英语四级-113及答案解析 (总分：100.01，做题时间：90分钟)二、Passage 1(总题数：1，分数：20.00)Each year, more US properties within floodplains are destroyed by flooding than fire. Changing weather patterns, increased urban development, and the leveling of forests have reduced the lands natural ability to absorb water. As floodin
2、g becomes a common occurrence, property owners need to face the facts. Flood damage can happen anytime, no matter where you live. Flood insurance, which is financially backed by the US Government through the National Flood Insurance Program, is available through Homesite Insurance and the Homesite I
3、nsurance Agency. The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) through the Federal Emergency Management Agency is the primary provider of flood insurance. The Homesite Insurance Company acts as a Write-Your-Own company on behalf of the NFIP. Write-Your-Own companies sell and service flood policies and
4、 the NFIP pays the claims. Property owners know a Homeowners policy covers fire damage, but most dont realize that it wont cover flood or mudslide damage. Rising waters and debris can destroy your home, business, and personal belongings within minutes. Most floods dont qualify for federal disaster a
5、id. Only floods that are declared national disasters by the President qualify for federal assistance. This assistance is in the form of a grant averaging less than $2,500, or a federal loan that must be paid back with interest. Thats in addition to payments on your existing mortgage loan! Only flood
6、 insurance protects your home and your belongings from damage caused by rising water or mudflow. Flood insurance is available for the value of the structure minus the land value. Contents coverage is also available, but is optional and must be requested. Even if youve had previous flooding, you can
7、still buy flood insurance. If youve received disaster assistance before, you must first obtain flood insurance to be eligible for future federal relief. The average flood policy is only $324 a yearthats less than $1 a day. Compare that to a typical disaster loan of $50,000, costing more than $300 a
8、month for over 18 years! Flood insurance pays all covered claims even if a federal disaster is not declared. Claims are paid quickly so victims can recover faster. You can even get a partial payment fight away to get started. Flood coverage is available up to $250,000 for your home, and up to $100,0
9、00 for the contents. Anyone can buy flood insurance if his/her property is located in a community that participates in the National Flood Insurance Program. Homes, condos, apartments, and business structures are all eligible. Even renters may purchase flood insurance for their possessions. Since flo
10、od premiums are set by the US government, your rate is the same from any insurer.（分数：20.00）(1).Which of the following is NOT the reason for the frequent flood according to the passage?（分数：4.00）A.Changing weather patterns.B.Increased urban development.C.The jerry-built projects.D.The leveling of fore
11、sts.(2).Who is in charge of paying the claims?（分数：4.00）A.The Homesite Insurance Company.B.Federal Emergency Management Agency.C.National Flood Insurance Program.D.Write-Your-Own company.(3).Which of the following statements is CORRECT?（分数：4.00）A.Most floods qualify for federal disaster aid.B.Every f
12、lood qualifies for federal disaster aid.C.Most floods dont qualify for federal disaster aid.D.No floods qualify for federal disaster aid.(4).What will be paid quickly so victims can recover faster?（分数：4.00）A.Flood policies.B.Flood premiums.C.Coverage.D.Claims.(5).According to the passage, which of t
13、he following is CORRECT?（分数：4.00）A.Flood insurance pays only those declared by the President as a federal disaster.B.Flood insurance is easy to buy.C.Renters cannot purchase flood insurance for their possessions.D.Flood insurance protects your home from damage caused by fire.三、Passage 2(总题数：1，分数：20.
14、00)The standard of living of any country means the average persons share of the goods and services which the country produces. A countrys standard of living, therefore, depends first and foremost on its capacity to produce wealth. Wealth in this sense is not money, for we do not live on money but on
15、 things that money can buy: goods such as food and clothing, and services such as transport and entertainment. A countrys capacity to produce wealth depends upon many factors, most of which have an effect on one another. Wealth depends to a great extent upon a countrys natural resources, such as coa
16、l, gold, and other minerals, water supply and so on. Some regions of the world are well supplied with coal and minerals, and have a fertile soil and a favorable climate; other regions possess none of them. Next to natural resources comes the ability to turn them to use. Some countries are perhaps we
17、ll off in natural resources, but suffered for many years from civil and external wars, and for this and other reasons have been unable to develop their resources. Sound and stable political conditions, and freedom from foreign invasion, enable a country to develop its natural resources peacefully an
18、d steadily, and to produce more wealth than another country equally well served by nature but less well ordered. Another important factor is the technical efficiency of a countrys people. Industrialized countries that have trained numerous skilled workers and technicians are better placed to produce
19、 wealth than countries whose workers are largely unskilled. A countrys standard of living does not only depend upon the wealth that is produced and consumed within its own borders, but also upon what is indirectly produced through international trade. For example, Britains wealth in foodstuffs and o
20、ther agricultural products would be much less if she had to depend only on those grown at home. Trade makes it possible for her surplus manufactured goods to be traded abroad for the agricultural products that would otherwise be lacking. A countrys wealth is, therefore, much influenced by its manufa
21、cturing capacity, provided that other countries can be found ready to accept its manufactures.（分数：20.01）(1).The standard of living in a country is determined by _.（分数：6.67）A.its goods and servicesB.the type of wealth producedC.how well it can create wealthD.what an ordinary person can share(2).A cou
22、ntrys capacity to produce wealth depends on all the factors EXCEPT _.（分数：6.67）A.peoples share of its goodsB.political and social stabilityC.qualities of its workersD.use of natural resources(3).According to the passage, _ play an equally important role in determining a countrys standard of living.（分
23、数：6.67）A.farm productsB.industrial goodsC.food stuffsD.export and import四、Passage 3(总题数：1，分数：20.00)Most people would describe a dollar millionaire as rich, yet many millionaires would disagree. They do not compare themselves with teachers or shop assistants but with the other parents at their childr
24、ens private schools. To count the number of rich people in the world, however, an arbitrary cut-off point is needed, and $1 m is as good as any. Capgemini, a consultancy, defines anyone with investable assets of $1 m or more (excluding their home) as a high-net-worth individual, consultant-speak for
25、 rich. By this conservative measure the planet has about 10m millionaires, according to Capgemini and Merrill Lynch, a bank. Credit Suisse, another bank, uses a less stringent (and more obvious) definition: a millionaire is anyone whose net assets exceed $1m. That includes everything: a home, an art
26、 collection, even the value of an as-yet-inaccessible pension scheme. The Credit Suisse Global Wealth Report estimates that there were 24.2m such people in mid-2010, about 0.5% of the worlds adult population. By this measure, there are more millionaires than there are Australians. They control $69.2
27、 trillion in assets, more than a third of the global total. How did these people grow rich? Mostly through their own efforts. Only 16% of high-net-worth individuals inherited their stash, according to Capgemini. The most common way to get rich is to start a business: nearly half (47%) of the worlds
28、wealthy people are entrepreneurs. You do not have to be a genius to build a million-dollar business, but it helps if you are intelligent and extremely hard-working. In their book The Millionaire Next Door , Thomas Stanley and William Danko observed that a typical American millionaire is surprisingly
29、 ordinary. He has spent his life patiently saving and ploughing his money into a business he founded. He does not live in the fanciest part of townwhy waste money that you can invest? And his tastes are so plain that you can barely tell him apart from his neighbours. He buys $40 shoes, and his car o
30、f choice is a Ford. Another 23% of the worlds millionaires got rich through paid work, estimates Capgemini. A few vault easily over the million-dollar bar. Gregory Maffei, the boss of Liberty Media, an American cable-television firm, earned $87,095,882 in 2010. The median pay for chief executives at
31、 the 456 largest publicly quoted firms in America was $7.23m, according to the Hay Group, a consultancy. But the vast majority are skilled professionals or managers who have been careful with their money. An orthodontist in America makes about $200,000 a year. He may leave medical school heavily in
32、debt, but after a lifetime of earning, saving and investing, he can probably amass $1m.（分数：20.00）(1).Those with a million dollars dont consider themselves rich because _.（分数：4.00）A.they are too greedy to be satisfiedB.they know many who are more wealthyC.they tend to compare themselves with richer p
33、eopleD.they spend a lot on childrens education(2).The word stringent in Paragraph Two probably means _.（分数：4.00）A.convincingB.puzzlingC.accurateD.strict(3).Which of the following statements about millionaires is CORRECT?（分数：4.00）A.They like collecting works of art and investment.B.They account for o
34、ne third of the total population.C.Many of them made great fortune overnight.D.Many of them became rich by running a firm.(4).A typical American millionaire does all the following EXCEPT（分数：4.00）A.living in a simple wayB.being keen on investmentC.trying to improve his tastesD.being moderate in consu
35、mption(5).It can be inferred from the passage that to be a millionaire, one has to _.（分数：4.00）A.learn from othersB.build up good relationshipC.be wise in money mattersD.become skilled professionals五、Passage 4(总题数：1，分数：20.00)In the 1920s demand for American farm products fell as European countries be
36、gan to recover from World War I and instituted austerity programs to reduce imports. The result was a sharp drop in farm prices. This period was more disastrous than earlier times had been, because farmers were no longer self-sufficient. They were paying for machinery, seed, and fertilizers, and the
37、y were also buying consumer goods. The prices of the items farmers bought remained constant, while prices they received for their products fell. These developments were made worse by the Great Depression, which began in 1929 and extended throughout 1930s. In 1929, under President Herbert Hoover, the
38、 Federal Farm Board was organized. It established the principle of direct interference with supply and demand, and it represented the first national commitment to provide greater economic stability for farmers. President Hoovers successor attached even more importance to this problem. One of the fir
39、st measures proposed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt when he took office in 1933 was the Agricultural Adjustment Act, which was subsequently passed by Congress. This law gave the Secretary of Agriculture the power to reduce production through voluntary agreements with farmers who were paid to tak
40、e their land out of use. A deliberate scarcity of farm product was planned in an effort to raise prices. This law was declared unconstitutionally by the Supreme Court on the grounds that general taxes were being collected to pay one special group of people. However, new laws were passed immediately
41、that achieved the same result of resting soil and providing flood-control measures, but which were based on the principle of soil conservation. The Roosevelt Administration believed that rebuilding the nations soil was in the national interest and was not simply a plan to help farmers at the expense
42、 of other citizens. Later the government guaranteed loans to farmers so that they could buy farm machinery, hybrid grain, and fertilizers.（分数：20.00）(1).What brought about the decline in the demand for American farm products?（分数：4.00）A.The impact of the Great Depression.B.The shrinking of overseas ma
43、rkets.C.The destruction caused by World War I.D.The increased exports of European countries.(2).The chief concern of the American government in the area of agriculture in the 1920s was _.（分数：4.00）A.to increase farm productionB.to establish agricultural lawsC.to prevent farmers from going bankruptD.t
44、o promote the mechanization of agriculture(3).The Agricultural Adjustment Act encouraged American farmers to _.（分数：4.00）A.reduce their scale of productionB.make full use of their landC.adjust the prices of their farm productsD.be self-sufficient in agricultural production(4).The Supreme Court reject
45、ed the Agricultural Adjustment Act because it believed that the Act _.（分数：4.00）A.might cause greater scarcity of farm productsB.didnt give the Secretary of Agriculture enough powerC.wouldnt benefit neither the government nor the farmersD.benefited one group of citizens at the expense of others(5).It
46、 was claimed that the new laws passed during the Roosevelt Administration were aimed at _.（分数：4.00）A.reducing the cost of farmingB.conserving soil in the long-term interest of the nationC.lowering the burden of farmersD.helping farmers without shifting the burden onto other taxpayers六、Passage 5(总题数：
47、1，分数：20.00)The cold and rainy weather in Paris has not stopped Joe Schaeffer, an American tourist from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, from visiting the City of Lights with his family of four. Nor have the citys expensive pricesall the higher because of the huge drop in value of the American dollar compared t
48、o the European euro. We were coming anyway, not matter the price. We might not stay as long. We might eat cheese sandwiches, he said. At Notre Dame Cathedral a few blocks away, Linda Surma from Detroit, Michigan says she is also shocked by high prices in Paris these days. But Surma does not regret deciding to come to Paris, and has no plans to trim tourist attractions from her itinerary because of the expenseeven if she might not buy souvenirs. Paul Roll is managing director of the Pa
