2015年9月公共英语四级考试真题及答案

2015 年 9 月公共英语四级考试真题及答案 1-20 略 Part A Directions: Read the following text and fill each of the numbered spaces with ONE suitable word. Write your answers on the ANSWER SHEET. In the years after World War II, Americans typically assumed the full responsibilities of adulthood by their late teens or early 20s. Most young men had (21 )__ school and were working full-time, and most young women were (22)__ and raising children. People who grew (23) __in this era of growing affluence were economically serf-sufficient and able to take care of others by the time they had weathered adolescence. Today, adulthood no longer (24) __ when adolescence ends. Social scientists are beginning to recognize a new phase of life: early adulthood. Some features of this stage resemble coming of age (25) __ the late 19th and early 20th centuries,(26)__ youth fingered in a state of semiautonomy, waiting (27)__ they were sufficiently well-off to marry, have children and establish an independent (28) __ However, there are important differences (29)__ how young people today define and achieve adulthood from those of both the recent and the more distant past. This new stage is not merely an extension of adolescence, (30) __ has been maintained in the mass media. Young adults are physically mature and often (31) __ impressive intellectual, social and psychological skills. Nor are young people today reluctant to accept adult responsibilities. Instead, they are busy (32) __ up their educational credentials and practical skills in an ever more demanding labor market. Yet, many have not become fully adult, (33) __ they are not ready, or perhaps not permitted, to do (34) __ . For a growing number, this will not happen until their late 20s or even early 30s. In (35) __, American society will have to revise upward the “normal” age of full adulthood, and develop ways to assist young people through the ever-lengthening transition. 【答案解析】 21．completed／finished 【精析】本题考查句意推断。由上下文以及人生成长阶段的常识可知，此句要表达的 意思是大多数年轻男性在二十岁左右已经完成学业，开始工作了，故填 completed／ finished 均可。 22．married 【精析】本题考查句意推断。由后文的 raising children 可知，此句要表达的是多数 年轻女性已结婚生子，故填 married。 23．up 【精析】本题考查动词词组的搭配及用法。根据句意不难理解，此句的主语是在这个 黄金发展时代成长起来的人们，grow up 意为“成长，长大”，故填 up。 24．begins／tarts／commences 【精析】本题考查前后文的结构对照。句中将“成年期”与“青年期”对照，后半句说的 是青年期的结束，由推测可知，前半句应为成年期的开始。整句表达的是，成年期并不随 着青春期的结束而开始，故填 begins／starts／commences 均可。 25．in 【精析】本题考查介词的用法。在十九世纪末二十世纪初，用介词 in，故填 in。 26．when 【精析】本题考查关系副词的用法。此句为 when 引导的非限制性定语从句，修饰前 面表示时间的先行词“十九世纪末二十世纪初”，故：填 when。 27．until／till 【精析】本题考查句意推断及连词的用法。由上下文得知，此句表达 的是年轻人要 等到足够富有了才结婚生子，故填 until／till 均可。 28．family／household／home 【精析】本题考查句意推断。由上下文可推断，此处要表达的意思是建立一个独立的 家庭，故填 family／household／home 均可。 29．in 【精析】本题考查句意理解及介词的用法。此句要表达的是如今的 青年人在定义与 实现成年期问题上与过去的人有很大不同。表达“在…方面”应用介词 in，故填 in。 30．which 【精析】本题考查非限制性定语从句。前面主句中的“an extension of adolescence”为先行词。此句意为“这个新阶段并不像大众媒体所坚持认为的那样是青少 年时期的延伸”，故填 which。 31．have／own／possess 【精析】本题考查句意理解及句型结构。此句由 and 连接两个并列谓语，意为“年轻 的成年人生理发育成熟，常常拥有惊人的智慧、社交技能和心理承受技能”，故填 have／ own／possess 均可。 I 32．building／strengthening 【精析】本题考查动词短语的搭配及用法。整句句意为“年轻人忙于加强他们的教育 背景，提升实践技能”。building／strengthening 意为 “建立，增进，加强”，又因为 be busy(in)doin9 的固定搭配，故填 building／strengthening 均可。 33．because／for／since 【精析】本题考查逻辑关系。此句意为“很多年轻人还没有完全成年是因为他们还没 有准备好”，故填 because／for／since 均可。 34．so／this 【精析】本题考查句意理解。很多年轻人没有完全成年因为他们还没有准备好这样做。 so／this 指代前面的“become fully adult”，故填 so /this 均可。 35．fact／reality 【精析】本题考查介词短语：in fact／in reality“事实上，实际上”，故填 fact／ reality 均可。 Part B Directions: Read the following three texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C or D. Mark your answers on the ANSWER SHEET. Text 1 In the last 30 years, science and technology have had a truly dramatic impact on sports. There are three major reasons for this. First, new artificial materials have appeared and been used in many sports--sometimes to revolutionary effect. Second, our design expertise has improved, partly through the development of computers and other technical tools. We know more and can plan and predict more accurately in many critical areas. The third reason why science and technology have had an increasing impact is that there is now the money and the motivation for them to do so. In a variety of ways, sport has become very big business, and in the matter of winning or losing, very large amounts of money may be at stake. Technology has influenced specific sports in many ways. Wherever a commercial mass market is involved, technical change may be promoted largely for the sake of change, to make this season's product seem different from that of last season. An example of this trend is in the endless search for the perfect sports shoe. Anatomically precise support for the heel and ankle, air sacs for extra spring and comfort each year bring apparent new refinements. Even in retirement, basketball's Michael Jordan remains one of sport's biggest earners because of the deal he signed endorsing the Air Jordan shoe; and one of the richest sportspeople of all, though his winnings these days are minimal, is the veteran golfer Arnold Palmer, thanks to his endorsements of the latest in golf technology. More significant still in modem sports have been more general effects of technological advance. It has provided the means for timing athletes to thousandths of a second--and the means of replaying an event to check who won or to see if a break-rule occurred. It has put sport on television, so millions can watch without moving from their own homes. It has provided the means for testing for illegal drugs. It has also, for better or worse, given sportsmen and women a new attitude towards their own bodies encouraged also by the high stakes, the sponsorship and the fevered media attention. Technology helps them plan the best diet and exercise regimes; it has created heart and lung monitors that measure stress and oxygen intake; and it allows athletes to keep a constant check on their own physical problems and progress. In terms of nutrition (fuel) and training (maintenance), the modem sportsperson is treated--and treats himself or herself--like a machine. 36. According to the author, sport has become very big business in the sense that A it needs high-tech materials. B it requires business management. C it involves the wide use of computers. D it seems a matter of big money. 37. The example of sports shoes suggests that the technological advances in modem sports are A encouraged by commercial interests. B supported by famous sportspeople. C attributed to basketball performance. D subjected to computer technology. 38. The text suggests that some of the rich sportsmen A cooperate with companies to develop high-tech sports products. B are interested in promoting the development of science and technology. C are selfishly earning money by promoting new sports products. D play a positive role in promoting high-tech sports products. 39. By saying “the modern sportsperson is...like a machine”, the author emphasizes the sense of A rigidity. B inhumanity. C preciseness. D automation. 40. The statement that best summarizes the text is A sportspeople seek high-tech products for better performance. B science and technology have played a significant role in sports. C science and technology have helped improve the sports environment. D some sportspeople have benefited financially from new technology. Text 2 Most of us Americans have a vague, uneasy sense of wicked wastefulness. We throw out the never-opened pack of food that's past its sellby date before answering a call on the fourth mobile phone we have had in five years. We gaze around our living space groaning at the sheer quantity of little-used clothing, blocking it up like a blood clot in an arterial vein. Our despair is genuine at the way we are running out of the earth's resources and at the fact that we have so much when two-thirds of the world's population only just get enough to eat and drink. Yet we feel completely powerless to do anything about it, too busy, irritable and tired to focus on practical steps. For the problem goes even deeper than material wastefulness: We know we are wasting our time, our being, our lives. We have compromised in our choice of career, lovers, friends ; we put on a face to meet the faces that we meet. Trapped in marketing characters, not only in our office politics but in our intimate relationships, too, we play too many games. Deep down, we know that it's time to "get a life", to stop being distracted by pointless consumerism, unreal relationships, and "Affluenza-infected" career ambitions. The first step to salvation is to understand how much it is not your fault. If you read Vance Packard's 1958 book about the advertising industry, The Hidden Persuaders, it proves that long ago retailers were devising ways to deliberately deceive us into confusing mixed wants with true needs in order to keep the consumption bandwagon rolling. In recent years, manufacturers have intention- ally speeded up the rate at which electronic goods become obsolescent and instead of the proper re- pair customer services that used to exist, there are merely expensive help-lines, When your toaster or printer or MP3 music device breaks down after only a year, it is no accident that there is no one who will repair them--" it'd cost more than buying a new one, love". So this is a selfish capitalist system which is designed to maximize profits through rapid turn- over of "newer, better" goods that break down sooner and are designed to be irreparable. It's not your fault ! What you can do is withdraw as much as possible from the consumption game. Every time you are about to buy something ask yourself, "do I need this, or do I just want it.'?" 41. Most Americans, according to the author, feel uneasy about A depending too much on modern technology. B failing to solve problems in their lives. C having too little living space. D wasting too many resources. 42. By saying "we play too many games", the author wants to show A we are wasting our lives. B we make too many mistakes. C we do not take our life seriously. D I we are too busy enjoying ourselves. 43. To make ourselves feel better, we should first A figure out whom to blame for our excessive consumption. B avoid making unnecessary purchases in our daily life. C pick out misleading messages in the advertisement. D exercise caution when making a big purchase. 44. We learn from Paragraph 5 that A the quality of goods is getting worse recently. B customers are more often misled nowadays. C we are deceived into making a purchase. D advertisers have become very clever. 45. The author advises us to buy A more than we need. B only what we want. C more than we want. D only what we need. Text 3 Susan Baroness Greenfield is a British institution. In a country that perceives its scientists as white-coated eccentrics, and probably male, Lady Greenfield is fashionable, extravagant, and female. At least, that is the image she has sought to project as a populariser of science. She is accused, though, of bringing another British institution, the Royal Institution (RI), to the verge of bankruptcy. The RI, of which she was director from 1998 until last Friday (January 8th), has made her job redundant. She says she plans to respond with a suit for sexual discrimination.