2015年6月大学英语四级考试模拟题（一）

Passage Three

Questions 31 to 35 are based on the following passage:

There were two widely divergent influences on the early development of statistical methods. Statistics had a mother who was dedicated to keeping orderly records of governmental units (state and statistics come from the same Latin root, status) and a gentlemanly gambling father who relied on mathematics to increase his skill at playing the odds in games of chance. The influence of the mother on the offspring, statistics, is represented by counting, measuring, describing, tabulating, ordering, and the taking of censuses-all of which led to modern descriptive statistics. From the influence of the father came modern inferential statistics, which is based squarely on theories of probability.

Descriptive statistics involves tabulating, depicting, and describing collections of data. These data may be either quantitative, such as measures of height, intelligence, or grade level-variables that are characterized by an underlying continuum-or the data many represent qualitative variables, such as sex, college major, or personality type. Large masses of data must generally undergo a process of summarization or reducing to comprehensibly form the properties of an otherwise unwieldy mass of data.

Inferential statistics is a formalized body of methods for solving another class of problems that present great difficulties for the unaided human mind. This general class of problems characteristically involves attempts to make predictions using a sample of observations. For example, a school superintendent wishes to determine the proportion of children in a large school system who come to school without breakfast, have been vaccinated for flu, or whatever. Having a little knowledge of statistics, the superintendent would know that it is unnecessary and inefficiency to question each child; the proportion for the entire district could be estimated fairly accurately from a sample of as few as 100 children. Thus, the purpose of inferential statistics is to predict or estimate characteristics of a population from a knowledge of the characteristics of only a sample of the population.

31.What is the passage mainly concerned with?

A) Development and application of statistics.

B) Origin of descriptive statistics.

C) Limitations of inferential statistics.

D) Importance of statistics.

32.Describing and tabulating are associated with ____.

A) inferential statistics

B) descriptive statistics

C) theories of probability

D) inefficiency of counting

33.Which of the following statements is true about descriptive statistics?

A) It combines quantitative variables and qualitative variables.

B) It can be used to deal with only quantitative variables.

C) It helps to summarize properties of a group of data.

D) It helps to make predictions using a sample of observations.

34.The word "unwieldy" in the second paragraph is closest in meaning to ____.

A) difficult to collect 　　B) difficult to tackle

C) incomprehensive　　D) uncontrollable

35.A sample of a population is often examined for the following purposes except ____.

A) to make a more accurate prediction of trend

B) to improve efficiency and avoid unnecessary work

C) to save the trouble of approaching every members

D) to predict characteristics of the entire population

Passage Four

Questions 36 to 40 are based on the following passage:

The Japanese are fascinated by automata and new inventions. Japanese children are used to friendly robots in their comics, in toys, and in TV animated cartoons. When as adults they join the workforce,robots mean that there is no need to import cheap foreign labor, as happens in many other parts of the world. There is no need for humans to put up with dirty, mind deadening mechanical work the robot does it all without complaint, around the clock. Robots don't go on strike over tea breaks they don't have tea, or any other kind of breaks:they work, day and night, without having to be paid overtime, without making mistakes. Human tasks are subject to human error: robot error seldom or never occurs except as a result of human error!

In Japan, robots are almost respected for their virtues. When a new robot is introduced to a small suburban factory, a Shinto priest is invited to inaugurate it. He inaugurates the robot with words along the lines of "Welcome to our co-worker, we hope you'll help him settle in." No one laughs.

FANUC demonstrates the Japanese tendency to conform particularly strikingly. The founder of FANUC, Dr. Inaba, has created an army that makes no distinction between blue collar, white collar and steel collar worker: everyone, including the warlord himself, is dressed in yellow clothing issued free by the company. Perhaps to make up for the boring nature of the work, there are a number of other company perks. Company benefits, including pay, are much higher than in similar companies in Japan. Travel to and from work is provided free in the company's yellow buses. However, workers are expected to put in demanding unpaid "overtime." There is a clock in the product development laboratory set to run at ten times the normal speed, the remind everyone that the company is on a war footing.

As we watched Dr. Inaba's yellow helicopter soar away to Narita airport, we couldn't help thinking that his dream of world domination in robotics and allied applications might be more elegantly achieved if he had also thought to program his robots to whistle while they work.

36.According to the author, which of the following is not true to the Japanese?

A) Robots mean there is no need to import cheap foreign labor.

B) Robots mean that humans needn't do dirty and noisy work.

C) Robots mean there are no strikes nor overtimes.

D) Robots mean there is no mistake in any form.

37.What can be inferred form the words "He inaugurates the robot with words along the lines of 'Welcome to our co-worker, we hope you'll help him settle in.'No one laughs."?

A) The Japanese has no sense of humor while at work.

B) The Japanese does not understand the words of the Shinto priest.

C) The Japanese shows a true respect for robots.

D) The Japanese goes too far in their respect for robots.

38.Which of the following is not true about FANUC?

A) Workers receive higher pay for working overtime.

B) Workers enjoy free travel to and from work.

C) Workers are doing boring, sometimes demanding work.

D) Workers are reminded of being on a war footing.

39.What is not implied in the following works "we couldn't help thinking that his dream of world domination in robotics and allied applications might be more elegantly achieved if he had also thought to program his robots to whistle while they work."?

A) Our technology is not yet up to the needs of Dr. Inaba's dream.

B) Dr. Inaba's dream of world domination in robotics lacks humanity.

C) Dr. Inaba's dream of allied applications is too practical.

D) The author is in favor of Dr. Inaba's dream.

40.What does "our co-worker" refer to in the sentence "Welcome to our co-worker, we hope you'll help him settle in?"

A) Japanese workers who attend the inauguration.

B) The introduced robot.

C) The people who have invented the robot.

D) Japanese workers in general.