2014年12月大學(xué)英語四級(jí)考試真題（第1套)

1、2014年12月大學(xué)英語四級(jí)考試真題（第1套)Part I Writing (30 minutes)Directions ： For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write a short essay about a classmate of yours who has influenced you most in college. You should state the reasons and write at least 120 words but no more than 180 words.Part II Listening Co

2、mprehension (30 minutes)Section ADirections ： In this section, you will hear 8 short conversations and 2 long conversations. At the end of each conversation, one or more questions will be asked about what was said. Both the conversation and the questions will be spoken only once. After each question

3、 there will be a pause. During the pause, you must read the four choices marked A), B), C) and D), and decide which is the best answer. Then mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 1 with a single line through the centre.1. 1. A) The woman is fussy about the cleanness of the apartment.B) He ha

4、s not cleaned the apartment since his mothers visit.C) He does not remember when his mother came over.D) His mother often helps him to clean the apartment.2. A) The bus stop is only two minutes walk. C) They might as well take the next bus.B) The running made him short of breath. D) The woman is lat

5、e by a couple of minutes.3. A) She is suffering a pain in her neck. C) She has to do extra work for a few days.B）She is likely to replace Miss Smith. D) She is quite sick of working overtime.4. A) Change her job. C) Open a flower shop.B) Buy a dishwasher. D) Start her own business.5. A) He forgot wh

6、ere he had left the package C) He wanted to deliver the package himself.B) He slipped on his way to the post office. D) He failed to do what he promised to do.6. A) The speakers do not agree with each other. C) The man pays for the tickets as a rule.B) The woman does not like horror films. D) The sp

7、eakers happened to meet in the cinema.7. A) The woman is just as unlucky as the man. C) The speakers share a common view on love.B) The woman is more sensitive than the man. D) The speakers are unhappy with their marriage.8. A) Preparations for a forum. C) Organizers of a forum.B) Participants in th

8、e forum. D) Expectations of the forum.Questions 9 to 11 are based on the conversation you have just heard.9. A) France. C) Russia.B) Scandinavia D) East Europe.10. A) More women will be promoted in the workplace.B) More women will overcome their inadequacies.C) More women will receive higher educati

9、on.D) More women will work outside the family.11. A) Try hard to protect womens rights.B) Educate men to respect women more.C) Help women acquire more professional skills.D) Spend more time changing womens attitudes.Questions 12 to 15 are based on the conversation you have just heard.12. A) In a res

10、taurant. C) At the mans office.B) In a hotel lobby. D) At the womans place.13. A) He is the chief designer of the latest bike model.B) He has completed an overseas market survey.C) He is the Managing Director of Jayal Motors.D) He has just come back from a trip to Africa.14. A) To select the right m

11、odel. C) To convince the board members.B) To get a good import agent. D) To cut down production costs.15. A) His flexibility. C) His intelligence.B) His vision. D) His determination.Section BDirections ： In this section, you will hear 3 short passages. At the end of each passage, you will hear some

12、questions. Both the passage and the questions will be spoken only once. After you hear a question, you must choose the best answer from the four choices marked A), B),C)and D). Then mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 1 with a single line through the centre.Passage OneQuestions 16 to 18 ar

13、e based on the passage you have just heard.16.A) How being an identical twin influences ones identity.B) Why some identical twins keep their identities secret.C) Why some identical twins were separated from birth.D) How identical twins are born, raised and educated.17. A) Their second wives were nam

14、ed Linda. C) Their first children were both daughters.B)They grew up in different surroundings. D) They both got married when they were 39.18. A) They want to find out the relationship between environment and biology.B) They want to see what characteristics distinguish one from the other.C) hey want

15、 to understand how twins communicate when far apart.D) They want to know whether twins can feel each others pain.Passage TwoQuestions 19 to 21 are based on the passage you have just heard.19. A) It is especially attractive to children and the young.B) It is the first choice of vacationers on the Con

16、tinent.C) It is as comfortable as living in a permanent house.D) It is an inexpensive way of spending a holiday.20. A) It has a solid plastic frame. C) It is very convenient to set up.B) It consists of an inner and an outer tent. D) It is sold to many Continental countries.21. A) A groundsheet. C) A

17、 kitchen extension.B) A gas stove. D) A spare tent.Passage ThreeQuestions 22 to 25 are based on the passage you have just heard.22.A) It covers 179 square miles. C) It covers 97 square kilometers.B) It is as big as New York City. D) It is only half the size of Spain.23.A) Its geographic features att

18、racted many visitors.B) Its citizens enjoyed a peaceful, comfortable life.C) It imported food from foreign countries.D) It was cut off from the rest of the world.24.A) The fast development of its neighboring countries.B) The increasing investment by developed countries.C) The building of roads conne

19、cting it with neighboring countries.D) The establishing of diplomatic relations with France and Spain.25.A) They work on their farms. C) They raise domestic animals.B) They work in the tourist industry. D) They make traditional handicrafts.Section CDirections ： In this section, you will hear a passa

20、ge 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 with the exact words you have just heard. Finally, when the passage is read for the third time, you shou

21、ld check what you have written.“Dont take many English courses; they wont help you get a decent job. ” Sign up for management classes, so youll be ready to join the family business when you graduate. ”Sound 26 ? Many of us have heard suggestions like these 27 by parents or others

22、 close to us. Such comments often seem quite reasonable.Why, then, should suggestions like these be taken with 28 ? The reason is they relate to decisions you should make. You are the one who must 29 their consequences.One of the worst reasons to follow a particular path in life

23、is that other people want you to. Decisions that affect your life should be your decisionsdecisions you make after youve considered various 30 and chosen the path that suits you best.Making your own decisions does not mean that you should 31 the suggestions of others. For instanc

24、e, your parents do have their own unique experiences that may make their advice helpful, and having 32 in a great deal of your personal history, they may have a clear view of your strengths and weaknesses. Still, their views are not necessarily accurate. They may still see you as a child,&

25、#160;33 care and protection. Or they may see only your strengths. Or, in some unfortunate cases, they may 34 your flaws and shortcomings.People will always be giving you advice. Ultimately, though, you have to make your own 35 . .Part Reading Comprehension (40 minutes)Sectio

26、n ADirections ： 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 the bank is identified by a le

27、tter. 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 36 to 45 are based on the following passage.One principle of taxation, called the benefits principle, states that pe

28、ople should pay taxes based on the benefits they receive from government services. This principle tries to make public goods similar to 36 goods. It seems reasonable that a person who often goes to the movies pays more in 37 for movie tickets than a person who rarely goes. And

29、60;38 , a person who gets great benefit from a public good should pay more for it than a person who gets little benefit.The gasoline tax, for instance, is sometimes 39 using the benefits principle. In some states, 40 from the gasoline tax are used to build and maintain roads

30、. Because those who buy gasoline are the same people who use the roads, the gasoline tax might be viewed as a 41 way to pay for this government service.The benefits principle can also be used to argue that wealthy citizens should pay higher taxes than poorer ones, 42 because the

31、wealthy benefit more from public services. Consider, for example, the benefits of police protection from 43 . Citizens with much to protect get greater benefit from police than those with less to protect. Therefore, according to the benefits principle, the wealthy should 44 more

32、than the poor to the cost of 45 the police force. The same argument can be used for many other public services, such as fire protection, national defense, and the court system.A) adaptI) providedB) contributeJ) revenuesC) exertingK) similarlyD) expensesL) simplyE) fairM) theftF) justifiedN

33、) totalG)G）maintainingH)H) privateO) wealthSection BDirections ： 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 paragraph from which the information is derived. You may choose a par

34、agraph more than once. Each paragraph is marked with a letter. Answer the questions by marking the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 2.Growing Up ColoredA) You wouldnt know Piedmont anymoremy Piedmont, I meanthe town in West Virginia where I learned to be a colored boy.B) The 1950s in Piedmont wa

35、s a time to remember, or at least to me. People were always proud to be from Piedmontlying at the foot of a mountain, on the banks of the mighty Potomac. We knew God gave America no more beautiful location. I never knew colored people anywhere who were crazier about mountains and water, flowers and

36、trees, fishing and hunting. For as long as anyone could remember, we could outhunt, outshoot, and outswim the white boys in the valley.C) The social structure of Piedmont was something we knew like the back of our hands. It was an immigrant town; white Piedmont was Italian and Irish, with a handful

37、of wealthy WASPs (益格魯撒 克遜裔的白人新教徒）on East Hampshire Street, and “ethnic” neighborhoods of working-class people everywhere else, colored and white.D) For as long as anyone can remember, Piedmonts character has been completely bound up with the Westvaco paper mill: its prosperous past and doubtful futu

38、re. At first glance, the town is a typical dying mill center. Many once beautiful buildings stand empty, evidencing a bygone time of spirit and pride. The big houses on East Hampshire Street are no longer proud, as they were when I was a kid.E) Like the Italians and the Irish, most of the colored pe

39、ople migrated to Piedmont at the turn of the 20th century to work at the paper mill, which opened in 1888. All the colored men at the paper mill worked on “the platform” loading paper into trucks until the craft unions were finally integrated in 1968. Loading is what Daddy did every working day of h

40、is life. Thats what almost every colored grown-up I knew did.F) Colored people lived in three neighborhoods that were clearly separated. Welcome to the Colored Zone, a large stretched banner could have said. And it felt good in there, like walking around your house in bare feet and underwear, or sno

41、ring (打鼾) right out loud on the couch in front of the TVenveloped by the comforts of home, the warmth of those you love.G) Of course, the colored world was not so much a neighborhood as a condition of existence. And though our own world was seemingly self-contained, it impacted on the white world of

42、 Piedmont in almost every direction. Certainly, the borders of our world seemed to be impacted on when some white man or woman showed up where he or she did not belong, such as at the black Legion Hall. Our space was violated when one of them showed up at a dance or a party. The rhythms would be off

43、. The music would sound not quite right. Everybody would leave early.H) Before 1955, most white people were just shadowy presences in our world, vague figures of power like remote bosses at the mill or clerks at the bank. There were exceptions, of course, the white people who would come into our wor

44、ld in routine, everyday ways we all understood. Mr. Mail Man, Mr. Insurance Man, Mr. White-and-Chocolate Milk Man, Mr. Landlord Man, Mr. Police Man ：we called white people by their trade, like characters in a mystery play. Mr. Insurance Man would come by every other week to collect payments on colle

45、ge or death policies, sometimes 50 cents or less.I) “Its no disgrace to be colored, ” the black entertainer Bert Williams famously observed early in the century, “but it is awfully inconvenient.” For most of my childhood, we couldnt eat in restaurants or sleep in hotels, we couldnt use certain bathr

46、ooms or try on clothes in stores. Mama insisted that we dress up when we went to shop. She was carefully dressed when she went to clothing stores, and wore white pads called shields under her arms so her dress or blouse would show no sweat. “Wed like to try this on,” shed say carefully, uttering her

47、 words precisely and properly. “We dont buy clothes we cant try on, shed say when they declined, and we walk out in Mamas dignified (有尊嚴(yán)的）manner. She preferred to shop where we h ad an account and where everyone knew who she was.J) At the Cut-Rate Drug Store, no one colored was allowed to sit down a

48、t the counter or tables, with one exception： my father. I don5t know for certain why Carl Dadisman, the owner, wouldnt stop Daddy from sitting down. But I believe it was in part because Daddy was so light-colored, and in part because, during his shift at the phone company, he picked up orders for fo

49、od and coffee for the operators. Colored people were supposed to stand at the counter, get their food to go, and leave. Even when Young Doc Bess would set up the basketball team with free Cokes after one of many victories, the colored players had to stand around and drink out of paper cups while the

50、 white players and cheerleaders sat down in comfortable chairs and drank out of glasses.K) I couldnt have been much older than five or six as I sat with my father at the Cut-Rate one afternoon, enjoying ice cream. Mr. Wilson, a stony-faced Irishman, walked by. “Hello, Mr. Wilson, ”my father said. “H

51、ello, George.”L) I was genuinely puzzled. Mr. Wilson must have confused my father with somebody else, but who? There werent any Georges among the colored people in Piedmont. Why dont you tell him your name, Daddy?” I asked loudly. “Your name isnt George.”“He knows my name, boy，” my father said after

52、 a long pause. “He calls all colored people George. ”M) I knew we wouldnt talk about it again; even at that age, I was given to understand that there were some subjects it didnt do to worry to death about. Now that I have children, I realize that what distressed my father wasnt so much the Mr. Wilso

53、ns of the world as the painful obligation to explain the racial facts of life to someone who hadnt quite learned them yet. Maybe Mr. Wilson couldnt hurt my father by calling him George; but I hurt him by asking to know why.46. The author felt as a boy that his life in a separated neighborhood was ca

54、sual and cozy.47. There is every sign of decline at the paper mill now.48. One reason the authors father could sit and eat at the drug store was that he didnt look that dark.49. Piedmont was a town of immigrants from different parts of the world.50. In spite of the awful inconveniences caused by rac

55、ial prejudice, the authors family managed to live a life of dignity.51. The author later realized he had caused great distress to his father by asking why he was wrongly addressed.52. The author took pride in being from Piedmont because of its natural beauty.53. Colored people called white people by

56、 the business they did.54. Colored people who lived in Piedmont did heavy manual jobs at the paper mill.55. The colored people felt uneasy at the presence of the whites in their neighborhoods.Section CDirections： There are 2 passages in this section. Each passage is followed by some questions or unf

57、inished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A) 9 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 OneQuestions 56 to 60 are based on the following passage.Children are a deligh

58、t. They are our future. But sadly, hiring someone to take care of them while you go to work is getting more expensive by the year.Earlier this month，it was reported that the cost of enrolling an infant or small kid at a childcare center rose 3% in 2012, faster than the overall cost of living. There

59、are now large strips of the country where daycare for an infant costs more than a tenth of the average married coupled income.This is not necessarily a new trend, but it is a somewhat puzzling one. The price of professional childcare has been rising since the 1980s. Yet during that time, pay for professional childcare workers has stood still. Actually caregivers make less today, in real terms, than they did in 1990. Considering that l