新东方2009年6月英语四级模拟题(含听力和答案)

Part IV Reading comprehension (reading in depth) (25 minutes)

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 choices. Each choice in bank is identified by a letter. Please mark the corresponding letter for each item 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 47 to 56 are based on the following passage.

The song “Happy birthday to you” is sung all over the world just before the birthday boy or girl blows out the candles on the cake.

It is so simple that children as young as three can sing it without ___47___. The song, with its ___48___ title “Good Morning to You”, was written in 1893 by the two sisters, Mildred and Patty Smith Hill. They were the daughters of a ___49___ Kentucky couple, who believed in female education at a time---the mid-nineteenth century--- when it was still a ___50___ idea and who trained their two daughters to be schoolteachers. They were long involved in elementary education.

A birthday cake with ___51___ candles is also indispensable at one's birthday party. It may derive, ___52___, from the ancient Greek practice of offering to Artemis, goddess of the moon, a round honey cake into which a candle was stuck. After German bakers ___53___ the modern birthday cake in the Middle Ages, a similar ___54___ was adopted for happiness at birthdays.

The candle-blowing-out custom may be associated with double meaning at birthdays. Some people believe that each birthday is another step toward the end, and what we ___55___ at birthday gatherings is not only our growth, but our transience. Thus, candles at birthdays are ___56___ of life and death, hopes and fears, increase and loss, and so on.

注意：此部分试题请在答题卡2上作答。

A) invented I) original

B) accelerate J) novel

C) old K) apparently

D) symbols L) burning

E) hesitation M) prevented

F) progressive N) custom

G) celebrate O) substitute

H) distantly

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 57 to 61 are based on the following passage.

Electric cars are dirty. In fact, not only are they dirty, they might even be more dirty than their gasoline-powered cousins.

People in California love to talk about “zero-emissions vehicles,” but people in California seem to be clueless about where electricity comes from. Power plants most all use fire to make it. Aside from the few folks who have their roofs covered with solar cells, we get our electricity from generators. Generators are fueled by something  usually coal, oil, but also by heat generated in nuclear power plants. There are a few wind farms and geothermal plants as well, but by far we get electricity mainly by burning something.

In other words, those “zero-emissions” cars are likely coal-burning cars. It's just the coal is burned somewhere else so it looks clean. It is not. It’s as if the California Greens are covering their eyes “If I can’t see it, it’s not happening.” Gasoline is an incredibly efficient way to power a vehicle; a gallon of gas has a lot of energy in it. But when you take that gas (or another fuel) and first use it to make electricity, you waste a nice part of that energy, mostly in the form of wasted heat  at the generator, through the transmission lines, etc.

A gallon of gas may propel your car 25 miles. But the electricity you get from that gallon of gas won't get you nearly as far so electric cars burn more fuel than gas-powered ones. If our electricity came mostly from nukes, or geothermal, or hydro, or solar, or wind, then an electric car truly would be clean. But for political, technical, and economic reasons, we don’t use much of those energy sources.

In addition, electric cars’ batteries which are poisonous for a long time will eventually end up in a landfill. And finally, when cars are the polluters, the pollution is spread across all the roads. When it’s a power plant, though, all the junk is in one place. Nature is very good at cleaning up when things are not too concentrated, but it takes a lot longer when all the garbage is in one spot.

注意：此部分试题请在答题卡2上作答。

57. What does “clueless” mean in paragraph 2?

A) The California Greens are covering their eyes.

B) People in California love to talk about zero-emissions vehicles

C) People in California love to have their roofs covered with solar cells

D) People there have no idea that so far electricity mainly comes from burning coal, oil, etc.

58. According to the passage, why the California Greens hold the idea “If I can’t see it, it’s not happening.”?

A) They do not know those clean cars are likely coal-burning cars.

B) They do believe that the coal is burned somewhere else so it looks clean.

C) They tend to hold that electricity is a nice part of energy.

D) They tend to maintain that gasoline is a good way to run a vehicle.

59. The electricity we get from a gallon of gas may make our car run __________.

A) not less than 25 miles.

B) more than 25 miles.

C) no less than 25 miles.

D) not more than 25 miles.

60. Compared with cars using gas, electric cars __________

A) do not burn fuel and more environmental.

B) are toxic and it is difficult for nature to clean it up when their batteries are buried in one spot.

C) are very good at cleaning up when things are not too concentrated

D) are poisonous for a long time and will eventually end up in a landfill.

61. It can be inferred from the passage that __________.

A) Being green is good and should be encouraged in communications

B) Electric cars are not clean in that we get electricity mainly by burning something.

C) Zero-emissions vehicles should be chosen to protect our environment.

D) Electric cars are now the dominant vehicle compared with gasoline-powered cousins.

Passage Two

Questions 62 to 66 are based on the following passage.

Rising global carbon dioxide levels tied to global warming may not be as crucial in determining the composition of plant communities as other, localized climate changes.

"Nobody really knows what the increases in carbon dioxide are going to entail in terms of future changes in vegetation types," said Mark Brenner, a University of Florida assistant professor of paleolimnology, the study of ancient lakes. "It looks like climate changes in different areas may be more important than carbon dioxide, at least carbon dioxide by itself," he said.

Brenner’s research team based their conclusions on an analysis of sediment from two lake bottoms, one in northern Mexico and one in northern Guatemala. The researchers used new techniques that allowed them to analyze only the remains of land plants, specifically their leaf waxes. By measuring the composition of the leaf waxes, the researchers were able to distinguish two broad categories of plants living in these areas -- so-called C3 and C4 plants, which have different photosynthetic（光合作用） processes. Many C4 plants are tropical grasses, while most tropical trees are C3 plants. The researchers analyzed sediments（沉积物） deposited over the last 27,000 years, from the last ice age to the current geological period. Over this period, there was a worldwide, relatively uniform increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations.

Brenner said that if carbon dioxide played the major role in determining plant composition, one would assume that analysis of the sediments would reveal very similar changes in relative abundance of C3 and C4 plants in the two places over the study period. But, in fact, the researchers found that trends in the two types of plants were different at the two locations. The changes were related not with carbon dioxide levels, but with shifts in rainfall. "The result appears to be that climate factors, especially moisture availability, determine whether C4 or C3 plants dominate in an area, not carbon dioxide," Brenner said.

Many scientists believe global warming will cause major variation in local climates worldwide, with some wet areas becoming dry and dry areas becoming wet. If that happens, it could have more impact on relative C3 versus C4 plant distribution than the rising carbon dioxide levels.

62. What can be inferred in the first paragraph?

A) Climate changes are more important to the composition of plant communities than rising global carbon dioxide.

B) Localized climate shifts may not be as crucial as carbon dioxide.

C) Nobody knows which one is important.

D) Carbon dioxide levels is crucial to the global warming.

63. What is Mark Brenner?

A) He studies co-author’s opinion.

B) He is assisting the University of Florida.

C) He is an expert in the field of ancient lakes.

D) His research team composed of six geologists and geographers.

64. According to the third paragraph, which one is NOT true?

A) Tropical grasses are usually C4 plants.

B) C3 and C4 plants used to live in northern Mexico and Guatemala.

C) C3 and C4 plants don’t have the same processes.

D) Tropical trees are all C3 plants.

65. Why, in the 4th paragraph, the researchers found that trends in C3 and C4 plants were different at the two locations?

A) The assumption that carbon dioxide played the major role is wrong.

B) The carbon dioxide played an important role.

C) The moisture availability was different.

D) The carbon dioxide level was different.

66. What’s the main idea of the passage?

A) Climates factors determine the plant distribution and composition of plant communities.

B) Global warming will cause major variation.

C) How has Brenner’s research team proved a truth.

D) C3 and C4 plants are important plants in determining the composition of plant communities.