英语四级真题及答案解析第二套Word格式.docx

1、For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write a letter to express your thanks to one of your school teachers upon entering college. You should write at least 120 words but no more than 180 words. Part III Reading Comprehension （40 minutes）Section A Directions: In this section, there is a passag

2、e 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. Contrary to popular belief, older people generally do not want to live with their children. Moreover, most adult children _（26）every bit as much care and support t

3、o their aging parents as was the case in the good old days, and roost older people do not feel _（27）. About 80% of people 65 years and older have living children, and about 90% of them have _（28）contact with their children. About 75% of elderly parents who dont go to nursing homes live within 30 min

4、utes of at least one of their children. However, _（29）having contact with children does not guarantee happiness in old age. In fact, some research has found that people who are most involved with their families have the lowest spirits. This research may be _（30）, however, as ill health often makes o

5、lder people more _（31）and thereby increases contact with family members. So it is more likely that poor health, not just family involvement, _（32）spirits. Increasingly, researchers have begun to look at the quality of relationships, rather than at the frequency of contact, between the elderly and th

6、eir children. If parents and children share interests and values and agree on childrearing practices and religious _（33）they are likely to enjoy each others company. Disagreements on such matters can _（34）cause problems. If parents are angered by their daughters divorce, dislike her new husband, and

7、 disapprove of how she is raising their grandchildren, _（35）are that they are not going to enjoy her visits. Section B 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

8、which the information is derived. You may choose a paragraph more than once. Each paragraph is marked with a letter. Answer the questions by marking the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 2. Could Food Shortages Bring Down Civilization A For many years I have studied global agricultural, populatio

9、n, environmental and economic trends and their interactions. The combined effects of those trends and the political tensions they generate point to the breakdown of governments and societies. Yet I, too, have resisted the idea that food shortages could bring down not only individual governments but

10、also our global civilization. B I can no longer ignore that risk. Our continuing failure to deal with the environmental declines that are undermining the world food economy forces me to conclude that such a collapse is possible. C As demand for food rises faster than supplies are growing, the result

11、ing food-price inflation puts severe stress on the governments of many countries. Unable to buy grain or grow their own, hungry people take to the streets. Indeed, even before the steep climb in grain prices in 2008, the number of failing states was expanding. If the food situation continues to wors

12、en, entire nations will break down at an ever increasing rate. In the 20th century the main threat to international security was superpower conflict; today it is failing states. D States fail when national governments can no longer provide personal security, food security and basic social services s

13、uch as education and health care. When governments lose their control on power, law and order begin to disintegrate. After a point, countries can become so dangerous that food relief workers are no longer safe and their programs are halted. Failing states are of international concern because they ar

14、e a source of terrorists, drugs, weapons and refugees（难民）, threatening political stability everywhere. E The surge in world grain prices in 2007 and 2008and the threat they pose to food securityhas a different, more troubling quality than the increases of the past. During the second of the 20th cent

15、ury, grain prices rose dramatically several times. In 1972, for instance, the Soviets. I recognizing their poor harvest early, quietly cornered the world wheat market. As a result, wheat prices elsewhere more than doubled, pulling rice and com prices up with them. But this and other price shocks wer

16、e event-drivendrought in the Soviet Union, crop-shrinking heat in the . Corn Belt. And the rises were short-lived: prices typically returned to normal with the next harvest. FIn contrast, recent surge in world grain prices is trend-driven, making it unlikely to reverse without a reversal in the tren

17、ds themselves. On the demand side, those trends include the ongoing addition of more than 70 million people a year, a growing number of people wanting to move up the food chain to consume highly grain-intensive meat products, and the massive diversion（转向）of . grain to the production of bio-fuel. GAs

18、 incomes rise among low-income consumers, the potential for further grain consumption is huge. But that potential pales beside the never-ending demand for crop-based fuels. A fourth of this years . grain harvest will go to fuel cars. HWhat about supply The three environmental trendsthe shortage of f

19、resh water, the loss of topsoil and the rising temperaturesare making it increasingly hard to expand the worlds grain supply fast enough to keep up with demand. Of all those trends, however, the spread of water shortages poses the most immediate threat. The biggest challenge here is irrigation, whic

20、h consumes 70% the worlds fresh water. Millions of irrigation wells in many countries are now pumping water out of underground sources faster than rainfall can refill them. The result is falling water tables（地下水位）in countries with half the worlds people, including the three big grain producersChina,

21、 India and the . IAs water tables have fallen and irrigation wells have gone dry, Chinas wheat crop, the worlds largest, has declined by 8% since it peaked at 123 million tons in 1997. But water shortages are even more worrying in India. Millions of irrigation wells have significantly lowered water

22、tables in almost every state. JAs the worlds food security falls to pieces, individual countries acting in their own self-interest are actually worsening the troubles of many. The trend began in 2007, when leading wheat-exporting countries such as Russia and Argentina limited or banned their exports

23、, in hopes of increasing local food supplies and thereby bringing down domestic food prices. Vietnam banned its exports for several months for the same reason. Such moves may eliminate the fears of those living in the exporting countries, but they are creating panic in importing countries that must

24、rely on what is then left for export. KIn response to those restrictions, grain-importing countries are trying to nail down long-term trade agreements that would lock up future grain supplies. Food-import anxiety is even leading to new efforts by food-importing countries to buy or lease farmland in

25、other countries. In spite of such temporary measures, soaring food prices and spreading hunger in many other countries are beginning to break down the social order. LSince the current world food shortage is trend-driven, the environmental trends that cause it must be reversed. We must cut carbon emi

26、ssions by 80% from their 2006 levels by 2020, stabilize the worlds population at eight billion by 2040, completely remove poverty, and restore forests and soils. There is nothing new about the four objectives. Indeed, we have made substantial progress in some parts of the world on at least one of th

27、esethe distribution of family-planning services and the associated shift to smaller families. MFor many in the development community, the four objectives were seen as positive, promoting development as long as they did not cost too much. Others saw them as politically correct and morally appropriate

28、. Now a third and far more significant motivation presents itself: meeting these goals may necessary to prevent the collapse of our civilization. Yet the cost we project for saving civilization would amount to less than $200 billion a year, 1/6 of current global military spending. In effect, our pla

29、n is the new security budget.36.The more recent steep climb in grain prices partly results from the fact that more and more people want to consume meat products. 37. order is breaking down in many countries because of food shortages. 38. than superpower conflict, countries unable to cope with food s

30、hortages now constitute the main threat to world security. 39. parts of the world have seen successful implementation of family planning. 40. author has come to agree that food shortages could ultimately lead to the collapse of world civilization. 41. water shortages prove to be the biggest obstante

31、 to boosting the worlds grain production. 42. cost for saving our civilization would be considerably less than the worlds current military spending. 43. lower domestic food prices, some countries limited or stopped their grain exports. 44. problems must be solved to case the current global food shortage. 45. quarter of this years American grain harvest will be used to produce bio-fuel for cars.Section C Passage One Questions 46 to 50 are based on the following passage. Declining mental function is often seen as a problem of old age，but certain aspects of brain func