2010年12月英语四级全真预测试卷及答案解析(1)
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2010年12月大学英语四级考试全真预测试卷一
2010年12月大学英语四级考试全真预测试卷一 Part I Writing (30 minutes) Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write a composition one topic: City Problems. You should write at least 120 words following the outline given below in Chinese:
1. 越来越多的人涌入大城市,有些问题随之产生
2. 比较明显的大问题有……
3. 我对这种现象的想法 City Problems
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Directions: In this part, you will have 15 minutes to go over the passage quickly and answer the questions on Answer Sheet 1.For questions 1-7, mark
Y (for YES) if the statement agrees with the information given in the passage;
N (for NO) if the statement contradicts the information given in the passage;
NG (for NOT GIVEN) if the information is not given in the passage.
For questions 8-10, complete the sentences with the information given in the passage.
Scientists Weigh Options for Rebuilding New Orleans
As experts ponder how best to rebuild the devastated (毁坏)city, one question is whether to wall off—or work with—the water.
Even before the death toll from Hurricane Katrina is tallied, scientists are cautiously beginning to discuss the future of New Orleans. Few seem to doubt that this vital heart of U.S. commerce and culture will be restored, but exactly how to rebuild the city and its defenses to avoid a repeat catastrophe is an open question. Plans for improving its levees and restoring the barrier of wetlands around New Orleans have been on the table since 1998, but federal dollars needed to implement them never arrived. After the tragedy, that's bound to change, says John Day, an ecologist at Louisiana State University (LSU) in Baton Rouge. And if there is an upside to the disaster, he says, it's that 'now we've got a clean slate to start from."
Many are looking for guidance to the Netherlands, a country that, just like bowl-shaped New Orleans, sits mostly below sea level, keeping the water at bay with a construction of amazing scale and complexity. Others, pointing to Venice's long-standing adaptations, say it's best to let water flow through the city, depositing sediment to offset geologic subsidence—a model that would require a radical rethinking of architecture. Another idea is to let nature help by restoring the wetland buffers between sea and city.
But before the options can be weighed, several unknowns will have to be addressed. One is precisely how the current defenses failed. To answer that, LSU coastal scientists Paul Kemp and Hassan Mashriqui are picking their way through the destroyed city and surrounding region, reconstructing the size of water surges by measuring telltale marks left on the sides of buildings and highway structures. They are feeding these data into a simulation of the wind and water around New Orleans during its ordeal.
"We can't say for sure until this job is done," says Day, "but the emerging picture is exactly what we've predicted for years." Namely, several canals—including the MRGO, which was built to speed shipping in the 1960s—have the combined effect of funneling surges from the Gulf of Mexico right to the city's eastern levees and the lake system to the north. Those surges are to blame for the flooding. "One of the first things we'll see done is the complete backfilling of the MRGO canal," predicts Day, "which could take a couple of years."
The levees, which have been provisionally repaired, will be shored up further in the months to come, although their long-term fate is unclear. Better levees would probably have prevented most of the flooding in the city center. To provide further protection, a mobile dam system, much like a storm surge barrier in the Netherlands, could be used to close off the mouth of Lake Pontchartrain. But most experts agree that these are short-term fixes.
The basic problem for New Orleans and the Louisiana coastline is that the entire Mississippi River delta is subsiding and eroding, plunging the city deeper below sea level and removing a thick cushion of wetlands that once buffered the coastline from wind and waves. Part of the subsidence is geologic and unavoidable, but the rest stems from the levees that have hemmed in the Mississippi all the way to its mouth for nearly a century to prevent floods and facilitate shipping. As a result, river sediment is no longer spread across the delta but dumped into the Gulf of Mexico. Without a constant stream of fresh sediment, the barrier islands and marshes are disappearing rapidly, with a quarter, roughly the size of Rhode Island, already gone.
After years of political wrangling, a broad group pulled together by the Louisiana government in 1998 proposed a massive $14 billion plan to save the Louisiana coasts, called Coast 2050 (now modified into a plan called the Louisiana Coastal Area project). Wetland restoration was a key component. "It's one of the best and cheapest hurricane defenses," says Day, who chaired its scientific advisory committee.
Although the plan was never given more than token funding, a team led by Day has been conducting a pilot study since 2000, diverting part of the Mississippi into the wetlands downstream of the city. "The results are as good as we could have hoped," he says, with land levels rising at about 1 centimeter per year—enough to offset rising sea levels, says Day.
Even if the wetlands were restored and new levees were built, the combination of geologic subsidence and rising sea levels will likely sink New Orleans another meter by 2100. The problem might be solved by another ambitious plan, says Roel Boumans, a coastal scientist at the University of Vermont in Burlington who did his ph.D. at LSU: shoring up the lowest land with a slurry of sediment piped in from the river. The majority of the buildings in the flooded areas will have to be razed anyway, he says, "so why not take this opportunity to fix the root of the problem?" The river could deposit enough sediment to raise the bottom of the New Orleans bowl to sea level "in 50 to 60 years," he estimates. In the meantime, people could live in these areas Venice-style, with buildings built on stilts. Boumans even takes it a step further: "You would have to raise everything about 30 centimeters once every 30 years, so why not make the job easier by making houses that can float."
Whether that is technically or politically feasible—Day, for one, calls it "not likely" —remains to be seen, especially because until now, the poorest residents lived in the lowest parts of the city. Any decision on how best to protect the city in the future will be tied to how many people will live there, and where. "there may be a large contingent of residents and businesses who choose not to return," says Bill Good, an environmental scientist at LSU and manager of the Louisiana Geological Survey's Coastal Processes section. It is also not yet clear how decisions about the reconstruction will be made, says Good, "Since there is no precedent of comparable magnitude." Every level of government is sure to be involved, and "the process is likely to be ad hoc."
Even with the inevitable mingling of science and politics, we still have "a unique chance to back out of some bad decisions," says Good, who grew up in New Orleans. "I hope that we don't let this once-in-history opportunity slip through our fingers in the rush to rebuild the city:"
1. The passage gives a general description of the suggestions to reconstruct New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.
2. Two examples to deal with water are Netherlands and Venice.
3. The canals have nothing to do with the flooding.
4. The levees will be shored up further with clear long-term fate.
5. The basic problem for New Orleans is the subsidence of Mississippi River delta.
6. The key component of Coast 2050 is wetland restoration.
7. The plan of Coast 2050 will get billions of federal funding.
8. New Orleans will likely sink ________________ by 2100.
9. Another ambitious plan is to shoring up the lowest land with a slurry of sediment ________________.
10. How decisions about the reconstruction will be made is also ________________. (本题0 分)
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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 blank, 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.
Building after building under water. (36) ________ in shelters. Thousands of others unsure where to go. (37) ________ for help. Anarchy. Bodies in streets. This is what one of America's historic cities was (38) ________ to this week by a powerful storm, Katrina.
Officials want everyone still left in New Orleans, Louisiana, to leave for now. The (39) ________ of New Orleans says thousands may be dead. (40) ________ Katrina also caused death and (41) ________ in parts of Mississippi and Alabama along the Gulf of Mexico. Federal officials reported Friday that more than one million five hundred thousand homes and businesses (42) ________ without electric power.
New Orleans is famous for its wild Mardi Gras (43) ________ and night life in the French Quarter. (44) ________________________. New Orleans has depended on levees, dams made of earth, to control floods from the Mississippi River and Lake Pontchartrain.
Katrina struck on Monday. New Orleans avoided a direct hit. But two of the levees failed the next day. Most of the city was flooded. Helicopters dropped huge sandbags to fill the breaks. (45) ________________________.
America faces one of the worst natural events in its history. President Bush says the recovery will take years. (46) ________________________. The Bush administration is expected to ask for more in the weeks to come. (本题0 分)
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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 center. You may not use any of the words in the bank more than once.
Questions 47 to 56 are based on the following passage.
Blue is the world's favorite color. It is also the color most often 47 with intellect and authority.
Most uniforms are blue. In Greek and Roman mythology, blue is the color of sky gods. In the Old Testament, God is 48 by deep blue. Blue and turquoise (青绿色)are represented by the Islamic religion. It is the 49 color in the mosques of the world.
Blue symbolizes truth, peace and cooperation. It is the color of the flag of the United Nations and of Europe. As the coolest color of the spectrum, it is the hue most likely to have a receding effect. As in the skies and water that 50 us, blue is seen as a peaceful and 51 color. Blue light has seen to 52 blood pressure by calming the nervous system hence relaxing the body and mind. Blue creates large airy spaces. It makes rooms bigger.
The wrong shade of blue can be uncomfortable. It can also be cold and sterile(枯燥的)unless 53 with warmer colors.
Light and soft blue makes us feel quiet and protected from the bustle(喧闹)and 54 of the day. Blue bedrooms are restful. Blue bath rooms are appropriately watery. Blue 55 depth with greens and reds. Dark blue represents the night making us calm. Its apparently calming effect makes it the perfect tone for the quieter 56 of your living space.
[A] represented [I] activity
[B] engage [J] zones
[C] refreshing [K] foolish
[D] surround [L] line
[E] curved [M] acquires
[F] dominant [N] associated
[G]lower [O] rash
[H] balanced (本题0 分)
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Part III Listening Comprehension (35 minutes)
Section A
Directions: 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 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 2 with a single line through the centre.
11.
B :Mr. Jones is in an inferior position to Mr. Williams.
C :Mr. Jones used to be in charge.
D :Mr. Williams doesn't want to see the man.
B :She felt a bit annoyed.
C :The others have done the greater part of it.
D :They've finished more than half of it.
B :She felt a bit annoyed.
C :She was in a hurry.
D :She was surprised.
B :Bob should mind his own business.
C :The man once borrowed Bob's knife.
D :Bob's knife isn't as good as that of the man.
B :He can't have an appointment with the host.
C :He won't miss the meeting.
D :He is a hardworking man.
B :Because her mother would be very angry.
C :Because she can't finish the job ahead of schedule
D :Because she would be the last to finish the job.
B :They had so much free time to talk on the phone for that long.
C :They talked on the phone for too long.
D :He wants to know what they talked about.
B :At the cinema.
C :In the office.
D :At a department store.
Questions 19 to 22 are based on the conversation you have just heard.
19.
B :He is a specialist in computer science.
C :He is a consultant to a Scottish company.
D :He is a British tourist to China.
B :23℃
C :25℃
D :34℃
B :In a flat near the college.
C :With a language teacher.
D :In a student dormitory.
B :Foreign students had better live on campus.
C :Choice of where to live varies from person to person.
D :British families usually welcome foreign students.
Questions 23 to 25 are based on the conversation you have just heard.
23.
B :The identity of a fossil the woman found.
C :A comparison of two shellfish fossils.
D :Plans for a field trip to look for fossils.
B :It could be many millions of years old.
C :It is probably a recent specimen.
D :He will ask the lab how old it is.
B :Put it in her collection.
C :Take it to the lab.
D :Leave it with her professor.
Section B
Directions: In this section, you will hear 3 short passages. At the end of each passage, you will hear some 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 2 with a single line through the center.
Passage One
Questions 26 to 28 are based on the passage you have just heard.
26.
B :She was not energetic enough to do the job.
C :She was not enthusiastic about typing.
D :She never went to a university.
B :Because she wanted to prove that a woman could fly an airplane.
C :Her parents didn't want to hire a pilot.
D :She did not have enough money to hire a pilot.
B :Baghdad.
C :India.
D :Australia.
Passage Two
Questions 29 to 32 are based on the passage you have just heard.
29.
B :Reviewing book reports.
C :Writing research papers.
D :Selecting information sources.
B :Stealing another person's ideas.
C :Sharing notes with someone else.
D :Handing in assignments late.
B :In direct quotations.
C :In short phrases.
D :In shorthand.
32.
B :It should be enclosed in quotation marks.
C :It should be paraphrased by the author.
D :It should be authorized by the source.
Passage Three
Questions 33 to 35 are based on the passage you have just heard.
33.
B :How intelligence changes with the change of seasons.
C :How we can improve our intelligence.
D :Why summer is the best season for vacation.
B :Winter.
C :Fall.
D :Spring.
B :Heat has no effect on people's mental abilities.
C :People living near the equator are the most intelligent.
D :Both climate and temperature exert impact on people's intelligence.