英语四级阅读真题及答案.docx

1、英语四级阅读真题及答案 2014年6月英语四级阅读真题及答案 2014年6月英语四级阅读真题及答案 Section A Directions: In this section, there is a passage 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. Read the passage through carefully before making your cho

2、ices. Each choice in the bank is identified by a letter. Please mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 2 with a single line through the centre. You may not use any of the words in the bank more than once. Questions 36 to 45 are based on the following passage. Global warming is a trend toward

3、warmer conditions around the world. Part of the warming is natural; we have experienced a 20,000 -year -long warming as the last ice age ended and the ice 36 away. However, we have already reached temperatures that are in 37 with other minimum-ice periods, so continued warming is likely not natural.

4、 We are 38 to a predicted worldwide increase in temperatures 39 between 1 and 6 over the next 100 years. The warming will be more 40 in some areas, less in others, and some places may even cool off. Likewise, the 41 of this warming will be very different depending on where you arecoastal areas must

5、worry about rising sea levels, while Siberia and northern Canada may become more habitable (宜居的) and 42 for humans than these areas are now. The fact remains, however, that it will likely get warmer, on 43 , everywhere. Scientists are in general agreement that the warmer conditions we have been expe

6、riencing are at least in part the result of a human-induced global warming trend. Some scientists 44 that the changes we are seeing fall within the range of random (无规律的) variationsome years are cold, others warm, and we have just had an unremarkable string of warm years 45 but that is becoming an i

7、ncreasingly rare interpretation in the face of continued and increasing warm conditions. 注意：此部分试题请在答题卡2上作答。 A) appealing I) melted B) average J) persist C) contributing K) ranging D) dramatic L) recently E) frequently M) resolved F) impact N) sensible G) line O) shock H) maintain 参考答案 36. melted 37.

8、 line 38. contributing 39. ranging 40. dramatic 41. impact 42. appealing 43. average 44. maintain 45. recently SectionB Directions: 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 par

9、agraph from 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. The End of the Book? A Amazon, by far the largest bookseller in the country, reported on May 19

10、 that it is now selling more books in its electronic Kindle format than in the old paper-and-ink format. That is remarkable, considering that the Kindle has only been around for four years. E-books now account for 14 percent of all book sales in the country and are increasing far faster than overall

11、 book sales. E-book sales are up 146 percent over last year, while hardback sales increased 6 percent and paperbacks decreased 8 percent. B Does this spell the doom of the physical book? Certainly not immediately, and perhaps not at all. What it does mean is that the book business will go through a

12、transformation in the next decade or so more profound than any it has seen since Gutenberg introduced printing from moveable type in the 1450s. C Physical books will surely become much rarer in the marketplace. Mass market paperbacks, which have been declining for years anyway, will probably disappe

13、ar, as will hardbacks for mysteries, thrillers, “romance fiction,” etc. Such books, which only rarely end up in permanent collections, either private or public, will probably only be available as e-books within a few years. Hardback and trade paperbacks for “serious” nonfiction and fiction will sure

14、ly last longer. Perhaps it will become the mark of an author to reckon with that he or she is still published in hard copy. D As for childrens books, who knows? Childrens books are like dog food in that the purchasers are not the consumers, so the market (and the marketing) is inherently strange. E

15、For clues to the books future, lets look at some examples of technological change and see what happened to the old technology. F One technology replaces another only because the new technology is better, cheaper, or both. The greater the difference, the sooner and more thoroughly the new technology

16、replaces the old. Printing with moveable type on paper dramatically reduced the cost of producing a book compared with the old-fashioned ones handwritten on vellum, which comes from sheepskin. A Bibleto be sure, a long bookrequired vellum made from 300 sheepskins and countless man-hours of labor. Be

17、fore printing arrived, a Bible cost more than a middle-class house. There were perhaps 50,000 books in all of Europe in 1450. By 1500 there were 10 million. G But while printing quickly caused the hand written book to die out, handwriting lingered on (继续存在) well into the 16th century. Very special b

18、ooks are still occasionally produced on vellum, but they are one-of-a-kind show pieces. HSometimes a new technology doesnt drive the old one out, but only parts of it while forcing the rest to evolve. The movies were widely predicted to drive live theater out of the marketplace, but they didnt, beca

19、use theater turned out to have qualities movies could not reproduce. Equally, TV was supposed to replace movies but, again, did not. I Movies did, however, fatally impact some parts of live theater. And while TV didnt kill movies, it did kill second-rate pictures, shorts, and cartoons. J Nor did TV

20、kill radio. Comedy and drama shows (“Jack Benny,” “Amos and Andy,” “The Shadow”) all migrated to television. But because you cant drive a car and watch television at the same time, rush hour became radios prime, while music, talk, and news radio greatly enlarged their audiences. Radio is today a ver

21、y different business than in the late 1940s and a much larger one. K Sometimes old technology lingers for centuries because of its symbolic power. Mounted cavalry (骑兵) replaced the chariot (二轮战车) on the battlefield around 1000 BC. But chariots maintained their place in parades and triumphs right up

22、until the end of the Roman Empire 1,500 years later. The sword hasnt had a military function for a hundred years, but is still part of an officers full-dress uniform, precisely because a sword always symbolized “an officer and a gentleman.” L Sometimes new technology is a little cranky (不稳定的) at fir

23、st. Television repairman was a common occupation in the 1950s, for instance. And so the old technology remains as a backup. Steamships captured the North Atlantic passenger business from sail in the 1840s because of its much greater speed. But steamships didnt lose their sails until the 1880s, becau

24、se early marine engines had a nasty habit of breaking down. Until ships became large enough (and engines small enough) to mount two engines side by side, they needed to keep sails. (The high cost of steam and the lesser need for speed kept the majority of the worlds ocean freight moving by sail unti

25、l the early years of the 20th century.) M Then there is the fireplace. Central heating was present in every upper-and middle-class home by the second half of the 19th century. But functioning fireplaces remain to this day a powerful selling point in a house or apartment. I suspect the reason is a de

26、ep-rooted love of the fire. Fire was one of the earliest major technological advances for humankind, providing heat, protection, and cooked food (which is much easier to cat and digest). Human control of fire goes back far enough (over a million years) that evolution could have produced a genetic le

27、aning towards fire as a central aspect of human life. N Booksespecially books the average person could affordhavent been around long enough to produce evolutionary change in humans. But they have a powerful hold on many people nonetheless, a hold extending far beyond their literary content. At their

28、 best, they are works of art and there is a tactile(触觉的)pleasure in books necessarily lost in e-book versions. The ability to quickly thumb through pages is also lost. And a room with books in it induces, at least in some, a feeling not dissimilar to that of a fire in the fireplace on a cold winters

29、 night. O For these reasons I think physical books will have a longer existence as a commercial product than some currently predict. Like swords, books have symbolic power. Like fireplaces, they induce a sense of comfort and warmth. And, perhaps, similar to sails, they make a useful back-up for when

30、 the lights go out. 注意：此部分试题请在答题卡2上作答。 46. Authors still published in printed versions will be considered important ones. 47. Some people are still in favor of printed books because of the sense of touch they can provide. 48. The radio business has changed greatly and now attracts more listeners. 49

31、. Contrary to many peoples prediction of its death, the film industry survived. 50. Remarkable changes have taken place in the book business. 51. Old technology sometimes continues to exist because of its reliability. 52. The increase of e-book sales will force the book business to make changes not

32、seen for centuries. 53. A new technology is unlikely to take the place of an old one without a clear advantage. 54. Paperbacks of popular literature are more likely to be replaced by e-books. 55. A house with a fireplace has a stronger appeal to buyers. 参考答案 46. C Physical books will surely become much rarer in the marketplace. 47. N Booksespecially