星火英语2008年12月英语四级考试预测试卷

　　Passage Three
　　Questions 32 to 35 are based on the passage you have just heard.
　　32. A) It resembles the biological virus.
　　B) It works the same way as the human virus.
　　C) It influences the human as the biological viruses do.
　　D) It spreads to people who use the infected computers.
　　33. A) They invade the computer and make it a place for manufacturing.
　　B) They spread throughout the whole system by quickly copying themselves.
　　C) They infect the hard disc and the whole system.
　　D) They spread viruses inside the computer system.
　　34. A) It is a virus that causes great damage.
　　B) It is a virus that once infected the IBM’s computer system.
　　C) It is a virus that carries a Christmas greeting.
　　D) It is a virus that causes no harm to the computer systems.
　　35. A) It can cause no damages at all.
　　B) It can cause damages to the computer systems.
　　C) It can copy your files in computers.
　　D) It can format your hard drive.
　　Section C
　　Directions: In this section, you will hear a passage three times. When the passage is read for the first time, you should listen carefully for its general idea. When the passage is read for the second time, you are required to fill in the blanks numbered from 36 to 43 with the exact words you have just heard. For blanks numbered from 44 to 46 you are required to fill in the missing information. For these blanks, you can either use the exact words you have just heard or write down the main points in your own words. Finally, when the passage is read for the third time, you should check what you have written.
　　All that we really need to plot out the future of our universe are a few good measurements. This does not mean that we can sit down today and (36) the future course of the universe with anything like (37) . There are still too many things we do not know about the way the universe is put together. But we do know (38) what information we need to fill in our knowledge, and we have a pretty good (39) of how to go about getting it.
　　Perhaps the best way to think of our present situation is to (40) a train coming into a switchyard. All of the switches are set before the train arrives, so that its path is completely (41) . Some switches we can see, others we cannot. There is no doubt if we can see the setting of a switch: we can say with confidence that some (42) futures will not be realized and others will. At the unseen (43) , however, there is no such certainty about it. (44) .The unseen switches are the true decision points in the future, and what happens when we arrive at them determines the entire subsequent course of events.
　　(45) , but after that there are decision points to be dealt with and possible fates to consider. (46) .
　　Part Ⅳ Reading Comprehension (Reading in Depth) (25 minutes)
　　Section A
　　Directions: In this section, there is a short passage with 5 questions or incomplete statements. Read the passage carefully. Then answer the questions or complete the statements in the fewest possible words on Answer Sheet 2.
　　Questions 47 to 51 are based on the following passage.
　　Swiss Re Tower is a typical example of green architecture in London, and what is most remarkable about this building is its energy efficiency. Thanks to its artful design and some fancy technology, it is expected to consume up to 50% less energy than a comparable conventional office building. Green architecture is changing the way building are designed, built and run.
　　Green architecture, a term which only came into use in the 1990s, has its origins in the energy crisis of the 1970s, when architects began to question the wisdom of building enclosed glassandsteel boxes that required massive heating and cooling systems.
　　The forward looking architects began to explore designs that focused on the long term environmental impact of maintaining and operating a building. This approach has since been formalized in a number of assessment and rating systems, such as the BREEAM standard introduced in Britain in 1990, and the LEED standard developed by the United States Green Building Council starting in 2000.
　　Going green saves money by reducing long term energy costs; a survey of 99 green buildings in America found that on average, they use 30% less energy than comparably conventional buildings.
　　Green buildings can also have other benefits. The use of natural daylight in office buildings, for example, as well as reducing energy costs, also seems to make workers more productive. Lockheed Martin, an aerospace(航空宇宙) firm, found that absenteeism(旷工) fell by 15% after it moved 2 500 employees into a new green building in Sunnyvale, California.
　　47. Owing to its delicate design and advanced technology, Swiss Re Tower in London uses less energy than those traditional office buildings by .
　　48. Green architecture could date back to .
　　49. Today, when assessing and rating architecture, the long term environmental effect in the maintenance of the building has been .
　　50. Green architectures can reduce expenditure on the maintenance by .
　　51. Besides the benefit of saving money, green buildings can also bring .
　　Section B
　　Directions: There are 2 passages in this section. Each passage is followed by some questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A), B), C) and D). You should decide on the best choice and mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 2 with a single line through the centre.
　　Passage One
　　Questions 52 to 56 are based on the following passage.
　　Television is often viewed as an anti intellectual medium. But truly clever people know how to use even the most uNPRomising material, and that is what Val Curtis and her colleagues at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine have done. They employed the mass market appeal of TV to test a long held, but uNPRoven, hypothesis(假设): that the emotion of disgust evolved to protect people from disease.
　　They set up their experiment in October 2007, by publicizing it on a BBC program called “Human Instincts”. Viewers were invited to visit a website and, after giving a few biographical(个人介绍的)details, to view a series of 20 pictures and rate each of them for disgustingness on a scale of one to five. They were also asked to choose, from a list of possible candidates, with whom they would least like to share a toothbrush.
　　The results showed that in all seven pairs, the disease distinct pictures were more disgusting than their counterparts. For things like the apparent depiction of bodily fluids, or of a face that had been “enhanced” with spots, that may come as no surprise. But a crowded railway carriage was more distinguishing than an empty one, and a louse more disgusting than a wasp.
　　These last results confirmed Dr Curtis’s suspicion that disgust is not, as many disgust researchers believe, just a way of avoiding eating disease bearing materials. Rather, it extends to threats that might be contagious(传染性的). Indeed, one result of the study was to show that the young are easier to disgust than the old. Another result was that women are more easily disgusted than men. Both of these make evolutionary sense. The young have more reproductive potential than the old, so should be more careful about what they touch and eat. And women are usually burdened with bringing up the children, so have to be disgusted on their offspring’s behalf, as well as their own.
　　The results of the toothbrush study made similar sense. Strangers are more likely to carry new bacteria than acquaintances. Hence, of the available choices of toothbrush partner, a postman came off worst, and a lover best. A brush notionally belonging to a weatherman was, however, preferred to the boss’s. Clearly the British feel more intimacy with the former than the later. Perhaps it might have been instructive to include a famous television personality among the choices?
　　52. In the first paragraph television is mentioned to .
　　A) prove that what some intellectuals had claimed is wrong
　　B) show that TV is an essential part of British people’s daily life
　　C) demonstrate that mass media is a very profitable industry
　　D) introduce the media through which the survey was advertised
　　53. The experiment is chiefly done by .
　　A) watching the TV program called “Human Instincts” and filling out feedback forms
　　B) visiting different websites and making matches between pictures and numbers
　　C) rating various photos with numbers and selecting from a choice list
　　D) filling in biographical details and choosing a toothbrush
　　54. Which of the following is true about the result of the experiment?
　　A) A spotted face is more disgusting than a picture of bodily fluids.
　　B) A full packed subway is more disgusting than a louse.
　　C) A bleeding face is the most disgusting one.
　　D) A wasp makes people feel better than a louse.
　　55. The results of the experiment make evolutionary sense in that .
　　A) old people are less likely to produce goods for the society than the young
　　B) people’s emotion of disgust is often related to the safety of their children
　　C) women are more likely to bring up children independent of men’s help
　　D) old people are more likely to be disgusted than women
　　56. The results of the toothbrush experiment show that .
　　A) a boss is normally less clean and healthy than a weatherman
　　B) a postman is often dirtier than a lover
　　C) a public figure is often more popular than a boss in Britain
　　D) a famous television personality is the best toothbrush partner
　　Passage Two
　　Questions 57 to 61 are based on the following passage.
　　When it comes to health, the poor are doubly cursed. Not only are they more prone to deadly infectious diseases than the rich, but they have far less access to the means of improvement. Twenty years ago, Paul Farmer, an American doctor and anthropologist(人类学者), set out to do something about this. Amid the political turmoil(混乱)and poverty of rural Haiti, he created a communitybased healthcare system called Zanmi Lasante, or Partners in Health. It not only delivers appropriate, affordable medical treatment to thousands of poor people, but goes beyond the clinic to address the social causes making them sick and keeping them from getting better.
　　As Dr. Farmer argues, improving the health of the poor is not just a medical challenge, but a question of human rights. Tackling the inequality, racism, sexism and other forms of “structural violence” which oppress the poor is as critical as extending the drugs. Or as his Haiti patients put it, medicine without food is like washing one’s hands and drying them in the dirt.
　　Unfortunately, Dr. Farmer’s powerful message is often weakened by his book’s academic tone. It does, however, scream out in passages describing the human face of “structural violence”. It is these personal stories that make Dr. Farmer’s anger at such “stupid deaths” so compelling.
　　The good doctor’s motives and methods are better described in Mountains Beyond Mountains. This biography by Tracy Kidder traces Dr. Farmer from his unconventional upbringing and unusual education, shuttling (来回穿梭于) between the shacks of central Haiti and the halls of Harvard Medical School, to his later work around the world. Though well written, Mr. Kidder’s book also makes for uncomfortable reading. The author is clearly close to his subject, having traveled with Dr. Farmer from the green poverty of Haiti to the tubercular whiteness of Russia. Too close, perhaps. The biographer seems to be seeking his subject’s approval, rather than the other way round. Mr. Kidder writes, rather disturbingly, about his fear of disappointing Dr. Farmer, his own pain at wounding him with a critical remark and his relief at the doctor’s forgiveness.
　　When Mr. Kidder’s health falls, this dependence becomes all the more intense. But rather than compromise the book’s equity(公正), this intimacy serves to highlight Dr. Farmer’s admirable, yet ultimately irritating, character. As Mr. Kidder observes, “Farmer wasn’t put on earth to make anyone feel comfortable, except those lucky enough to be his patients or those unlucky enough to need him.”
　　57. What makes the “Partners in Health” system unique compared with traditional hospitals?
　　A) It makes attempts to help the poor on a social level.
　　B) It is aimed at treating poor people for free.
　　C) It is designed to help the poor rise from poverty.
　　D) It offers community help to those who are poor.
　　58. What can be inferred from the last sentence of the second paragraph?
　　A) Hands should not be dried in the dirt after washing.
　　B) Medicine is also needed for cleaning hands.
　　C) Medicine is not a long term cure to their poor health.
　　D) Food can cure their disease better than any medicine.
　　59. The disadvantage of Dr. Farmer’s book seems to be that.
　　A) the plots in the book are not attractive enough
　　B) the way he tells the stories is not compelling enough
　　C) the anger he expresses at “stupid deaths” is too strong
　　D) the tone is not strong enough to arouse people’s attention
　　60. Mr. Kidder’s book also makes for uncomfortable reading because .
　　A) Mr. Kidder himself has never been involved in Dr. Farmer’s life
　　B) Mr. Kidder is afraid of making true comments on Dr. Farmer
　　C) Mr. Kidder’s emotions prevent him from independent writing
　　D) Mr. Kidder is always waiting for Dr. Farmer’s forgiveness
　　61. It can be inferred from the last paragraph that .
　　A) Dr. Farmer only helped those who are lucky enough
　　B) Dr. Farmer may have severely criticized the society
　　C) Dr. Farmer was not actually making his patients comfortable
　　D) Dr. Farmer’s job is not to make people comfortable