1999年英语专业四级考试听力MP3附试题和答案

1999年英语专业四级真题及答案-1999年专四真题及答案

Part Ⅵ READING COMPREHENSION  〔30 MIN.〕

SECTION A READING COMPREHENSION    〔25 MIN.〕

    In this section there are four passages followed by questions or unfinished stat ements, each with four suggested answers marked A, B, C and D. Choose the one th at you think is the correct answer. Mark your choice on your answer sheet.

TEXT A

Surprisingly, no one knows how many children receive education in English hospit als, still less the content or quality of that education. Proper records are jus t not kept. We know that more than 850.000 children go through hospital each year, and that every child of school age has a legal right to continue to receive education wh ile in hospital. We also know there is only one hospital teacher to every 1,000 children in hospital.

    Little wonder the latest survey concludes that the extent and type of hospital t eaching available differ a great deal across the country. It is found that half the hospitals in England which admit children have no teacher. A further quarter have only a part-time teacher. The special children’s hospitals in major cities do best; general hospitals in the country and holiday areas are worst off. From this survey, one can estimate that fewer than one in five children have som e contact with a hospital teacher—and that contact may be as little as two hour s a day. Most children interviewed were surprised to find a teacher in hospital at all. They had not been prepared for it by parents or their own school. If the re was a teacher they were much more likely to read books and do math or number work; without a teacher they would only play games.

    Reasons for hospital teaching range from preventing a child falling behind and m aintaining the habit of school to keeping a child occupied, and the latter is of ten all the teacher can do. The position and influence of many teachers was summ ed up when parents referred to them as “the library lady” or just “the helper”. Children tend to rely on concerned school friends to keep in touch with school w ork. Several parents spoke of requests for work being ignored or refused by the school. Once back at school children rarely get extra teaching, and are told to catch up as best they can.

    Many short-stay child-patients catch up quickly. But schools do very little to e ase the anxiety about falling behind expressed by many of the children interview ed.

66． The author points out at the beginning that___.
A.  every child in hospital receives some teaching
B.    not enough is known about hospital teaching
C.    hospital teaching is of poor quality
D.  the special children’s hospitals are worst off 

67.    It can be inferred from the latest survey that___.
A.hospital teaching across the country is similar
B.    each hospital has at least one part-time teacher
C. all hospitals surveyed offer education to children
D.only one-fourth of the hospitals have full-time teachers 

68.    Children in hospital usual1y turn to___in order to catch up with  the ir school work.
A.    hospital teachers    B.    schoolmates C.    parents    D.    school teachers 

69.  We can conclude from the passage that the author is___.
A.    unfavourable towards children receiving education in hospitals
B.    in favour of the present state of teaching in hospitals
C.    unsatisfied with the present state of hospital teaching
D.    satisfied with the results of the latest survey 

TEXT B

        Computer people talk a lot about the need for other people to become “computer-l iterate”, in other words, to learn to understand computers and what makes them t ick. Not all experts agree, however, that is a good idea.

      One pioneer, in particular. who disagrees is David Tebbutt, the founder of Compu tertown UK. Although many people see this as a successful attempt to bring peopl e closer to the computer, David does not see it that way. He says that Computert own UK was formed for just the opposite reason, to bring computers to the people and make them “people-literate”.

    David first got the idea when he visited one of America’s best-known computer “g uru” figure, Bob Albrecht，in the small university town of Palo Alto in Northern California. Albrecht had started a project called Computertown USA in the local library, and the local children used to call round every Wednesday to borrow so me time on the computers there, instead of borrowing library books. Albrecht was always on hand to answer any questions and to help the children discover about computers in their own way.

    Over here, in Britain，Computertowns have taken off in a big way，and there are now about 40 scattered over the country. David Tebbutt thinks they are most succ essful when tied to a computer club. He insists there is a vast and important di fference between the two, although they complement each other. The clubs cater f or the enthusiasts, with some computer knowledge already, who get together arid eventually form an expert computer group. This frightens away non-experts, who a re happier going to Computertowns where there are computers available for them t o experiment on, with experts available to encourage them and answer any questions; they are not told what to do, they find out.

    David Tehbutt finds it interesting to see the two different approaches working s ide by side. The computer experts have to learn not to tell people about compute rs, but have to be able to explain the answers to the questions that people real ly want to know. In some Computertowns there are question sessions, rather like radio phone-ins, where the experts listen to a lot of questions and then try to work out some structure to answer them. People are not having to learn computer jargons, but the experts are having to translate computer mysteries into easily understood terms; the computers are becoming “people-literate”.

70.    According to David Tebbutt, the purpose of Computertown UK is to___
A.    train people to understand how computers work
B.    make more computers available to people
C.    enable more people to fix computers themselves
D.    help people find out more about computers 

71.    We Learn from the passage that Computertown USA was a ___.
A. town      B.  project      C.  library      D.  school 

72.  Which of the following statements is INCORRECT?
A.    Computertowns in the UK have become popular.
B.    Computertowns and clubs cater for different people.
C.    Computertowns are more successful than clubs.
D.    It’s better that computertowns and clubs work together. 

73.    Which of the following is NOT an advantage of computertowns?
A.    Experts give lectures and talks on computers.
B.    Experts are on hand to answer people’s questions.
C. People are left to discover computers on their own.
D.    There are computers around for people to practise on. 

TEXT C

    There must be few questions on which responsible opinion is so utterly divided a s on that of how much sleep we ought to have. There are some who think we can le ave the body to regulate these matters for itself. “The answer is easy,” says Dr . A. Burton. “With the right amount of sleep you should wake up fresh and alert five minutes before the alarm rings.” If he is right many people must be undersl eeping, including myself. But we must remember that some people have a greater i nertia than others.This is not meant rudely. They switch on slowly, and they a re reluctant to switch off. They are alert at bedtime and sleepy when it is time  to get up, and this may have nothing to do with how fatigued their bodies are, or how much sleep they must take to lose their fatigue.

    Other people feel sure that the present trend is towards too little sleep. To qu ote one medical opinion, thousands of people drift through life suffering from the effects of too little sleep; the reason is not that they can’t sleep. Like a dvancing colonists, we do seem to be grasping ever more of the land of sleep for our waking needs, pushing the boundary back and reaching, apparently, for a poi nt in our evolution where we will sleep no more. This in itself, of course, need  not be a bad thing. What could be disastrous, however, is that we should press too quickly towards this goal, sacrificing sleep only to gain more time in which  to jeopardize our civilization by actions and decisions made weak by fatigue. Then, to complete the picture, there are those who believe that most people are persuaded to sleep too much. Dr H. Roberts, writing in Every Man in Health, asse rts: “It may safely be stated that, just as the majority eat too much, so the ma jority sleep too much.” One can see the point of this also. It would be a pity t o retard our development by holding back those people who are gifted enough to w ork and play well with less than the average amount of sleep, if indeed it does them no harm. If one of the trends of evolution is that more of the life span i s to be spent in gainful waking activity, then surely these people are in the va n of this advance.

74.    The author seems to indicate that___.
A.    there are many controversial issues like the right amount of sleep
B.    among many issues the right amount of sleep is the least controversial
C.    people are now moving towards solving many controversial issues
D.    the right amount of sleep is a topic of much controversy among doctors

75.    The author disagrees with Dr. Burton because___.
A.    few people can wake up feeling fresh and alert
B.    some people still feel tired with enough sleep
C.    some people still feel sleepy with enough sleep
D.    some people go to bed very late at night 

76.    In the last paragraph the author points out that___.
A.    sleeping less is good for human development
B.    people ought to be persuaded to sleep less than before
C.    it is incorrect to say that people sleep too little
D.    those who can sleep less should be encouraged 

77.    We learn from the passage that the author___.
A.    comments on three different opinions
B.    favours one of the three opinions
C.    explains an opinion of his own
D.    revises someone else’s opinion 

TEXT D

    Migration is usually defined as “permanent or semipermanent change of residence. ” This broad definition, of course, would include a move across the street or ac ross a city. Our concern is with movement between nations, not with internal mig ration within nations, although such movements often exceed international moveme nts in volume. Today, the motives of people who move short distances are very si milar to those of international migrants.

    Students of human migration speak of “push” and “pull” factors, which influence an individual’s decision to move from one place to another. Push factors are ass ociated with the place of origin. A push factor can be as simple and mild a matt er as difficulty in finding a suitable job. or as traumatic as war, or severe fa mine. Obviously, refugees who leave their homes with guns pointed at their heads  are motivated almost entirely by push factors (although pull factors do influen ce their choice of destination).

    Pull factors are those associated with the place of destination. Most often thes e are economic，such as better job opportunities or the availability of good lan d to farm. The latter was an important factor in attracting settlers to the Unit ed States during the 19th century. In general, pull factors add up to an apparen tly better chance for a good life and material well-being than is offered by the place of origin. When there is a choice between several attractive potential de stinations, the deciding factor might be a non-economic consideration such as th e presence of relatives, friends, or at least fellow countrymen already establis hed in the new place who are willing to help the newcomers settle in. Considerat ions of this sort cad to the development of migration flow.

    Besides push and pull actors, there are what the sociologists call “intervening obstacles” Even if push and(or) pull factors are very strong they still may be ou tweighed by intervening obstacles, such as the distance of the move, the trouble  and cost of moving, the difficulty of entering the new country, and the problem s likely to be encountered on arrival. The decision to move is also influenced by “personal factors” of the potential m igrant. The same push-pull factors and obstacles operate differently on differen t people, sometimes because they are at different stages of their lives, or just  because of their varying abilities and personalities. The prospect of packing u p everything and moving to a new and perhaps very strange environment may appear  interesting and challenging to an unmarried young man and appallingly difficult to a slightly older man with a wife and small kids. Similarly, the need to lear n a new language and customs may excite one person and frighten another. Regardless of why people move, migration of large numbers of people causes confl ict. The United States and other western countries have experienced adjustment p roblems with each new wave of immigrants. The newest arrivals are usually given the lowest-paid jobs and are resented by native people who may have to compete w ith them for those jobs. It has usually taken several decades for each group to be accepted into the mainstream of society in the host country.

78.    The author thinks that pull factors___.
A.    are all related to economic considerations
B.    are not as decisive as push factors
C.    include a range of considerations
D.    are more important than push factors 

79.    People’s decisions to migrate might be influenced by all the follow ing EXC EPT___.
A.    personalities.                        B. education. C.    marital status.                        D. abilities. 

80.    The purpose of the passage is to discuss___.
A.    the problems of international migrants
B.    the motives of international migrants
C.    migration inside the country
D. migration between countries

答案与详解
TEXT A  

短文大意：这篇文章通过一次调查，反映了当孩子们生病住院时，医院里的教学问题。
66．答案：B
【参考译文】作者在文章开头指出了什么？
【试题分析】本题为细节题。
【详细解答】在第一段中，作者告诉我们说“没有人知道有多少孩子在医院里能接受到教育，更少有人知道教育的内容和教学质量”，这与选项B“not enough is known about hospital teaching”的意思一致。