英语四级考试真题附答案 2013年12月(2)

　　When Captain Cook asked the chiefs in Tahiti why they always ate __26__, they replied. "Because it is right." If we ask Americans why they eat with knives and forks, or why their menwear pants __27__ skirts, or why they may be married to only one person at a time, we arelikely to get __28__ and very uninformative answers: "Because it's right. " "Because that's theway it's done." "Because it's the __29__. " Or even "I don't know. " The reason for these andcountless other patterns of social behavior is that they are __30__ by social norms-sharedrules or guidelines which prescribe the behavior that is appropriate in a given situation.Norms __31__ how people "ought" to behave under particular circumstances in a particularsociety. We conform(遵守) to norms so readily that we are hardly aware they __32__. In fact,we are much more likely to notice __33__ from norms than conformity to them. You would notbe surprised if a stranger tried to shake hands when you were introduced, but you might be alittle __34__ if they bowed, started to stroke you, or kissed you on both __35__ Yet each ofthese other forms of greeting is appropriate in other parts of the world. When we visitanother society whose norms are different, we quickly become aware that things we do thisway, they do that way.

　　【参考答案】

　　26. apart and alone

　　27. instead of

　　28. Similar

　　29. custom

　　30. Controlled

　　31. Define

　　32. exist

　　33. Departures

　　34. startled

　　35. Cheeks

　　Questions 36 to 45 are based on the following passage.

　　What does it take to be a well-trained nurse? The answer used to be two-year associate's orfour-year bachelor's degree programs. But as the nursing shortage __36__ . a growing numberof schools and hospitals are establishing "fast-track programs" that enable college graduateswith no nursing __37__ to become registered nurses with only a year or so of __38__ training.

　　In 1991. there were only 40 fast-track curricula; now there are more than 200. Typical isColumbia University's Entry to Practice program. Students earn their bachelor of science innursing in a year. Those who stay on for an __39__ two years can earn a master's degree that__40__ them as nurse practitioners(执业护士) or clinical nurse specialists.

　　Many students arc recent __41__; others are career switchers. Rudy Guardron, 32, a 2004graduate of Columbia's program, was a premedical student in college and then worked for apharmaceutical (药物的) research company. At Columbia, he was __42__ as a nursepractitioner. "I saw that nurses were in high __43__ and it looked like a really goodopportunity," he says. "Also. I didn't want to be in school for that long. "

　　The fast-track trend fills a need, but it's also creating some __44__ between newcomers andveterans. "Nurses that are still at the bedside __45__ these kids with suspicion," says LindaPellico, who has taught nursing at Yale University for 18 years. "They wonder, how can they doit quicker?" The answer is they don't.

　　【参考答案】

　　36-45 OEKAJ GMCLN

　　The rise of the sharing economy

　　A) Last night 40 000 people rented accommodation from a service that offers 250 000 roomsin 30 000 cities in 192 countries. They chose their rooms and paid for everything online. Buttheir beds were provided by private individuals, rather than a hotel chain. Hosts and guestswere matched up by Airbnb, a firm based in San Francisco. Since its launch in 2008 more than 4million people have used it 2.5 million of them in 2012 alone. It is the most prominent exampleof a huge new "sharing economy", in which people rent beds, cars, boats and other assetsdirectly from each other, co-ordinated via the internet.

　　B) You might think this is no different from running a bed-and-breakfast (家庭旅店), owning atimeshare (分时度假房) or participating in a car pool. But technology has reduced transactioncosts, making sharing assets cheaper and easier than ever-and therefore possible on a muchlarger scale. The big change is the availability of more data about people and things, whichallows physical assets to be divided and consumed as services. Before the internet, renting asurfboard, a power tool or a parking space from someone else was feasible, but was usuallymore trouble than it was worth. Now websites such as Airbnb, Relay Rides and SnapGoodsmatch up owners and renters; smartphones with GPS let people sec where the nearest rentablecar is parked; social networks provide a way to check up on people and build trust; and onlinepayment systems handle the billing.

　　What's mine is yours, for a fee

　　C) Just as peer-to-peer businesses like eBay allow anyone to become a retailer, sharing siteslet individuals act as an ad hoc (临时的) taxi service, car-hire firm or boutique hotel (精品酒店) asand when it suits them. Just go online or download an app. The model works for items that areexpensive to buy and are widely owned by people who do not make full use of them. Bedroomsand cars are the most obvious examples, but you can also rent camping spaces in Sweden,fields in Australia and washing machines in France. As advocates of the sharing economy like toput it, access trumps (胜过) ownership.

　　D) Rachel Botsman, the author of a book on the subject, says the consumer peer-to-peerrental market alone is worth $26 billion. Broader definitions of the sharing economy includepeer-to-peer lending or putting a solar panel on your roof and selling power back to the grid(电网). And it is not just individuals: the web makes it easier for companies to rent out spareoffices and idle machines, too. But the core of the sharing economy is people renting thingsfrom each other.

　　E) Such "collaborative (合作的) consumption" is a good thing for several reasons. Ownersmake money from underused assets. Airbnb says hosts in San Francisco who rent out theirhomes do so for an average of 58 nights a year, making $9300. Car owners who rent theirvehicles to others using RelayRides make an average of $250 a month; some make more than$1000. Renters, meanwhile, pay less than they would if they bought the item themselves, orturned to a traditional provider such as a hotel or car-hire firm. And there are environmentalbenefits, too: renting a car when you need it, rather than owning one, means fewer cars arerequired and fewer resources must be devoted to making them.

　　F) For sociable souls, meeting new people by staying in their homes is part of the charm.Curmudgeons (倔脾气的人) who imagine that every renter is a murderer can still stay atconventional hotels. For others, the web fosters trust. As well as the background checkscarried out by platform owners, online reviews and ratings are usually posted by both partiesto each transaction, which makes it easy to spot bad drivers, bathrobe-thieves and surfboard-wreckers. By using Facebook and other social networks, participants can check each other outand identify friends (or friends of friends) in common. An Airbnb user had her apartmenttrashed in 2011. But the remarkable thing is how well the system usually works.

　　Peering into the future

　　G) The sharing economy is a little like online shopping, which started in America 15 years ago.At first, people were worried about security. But having made a successful purchase from,say, Amazon, they felt safe buying elsewhere. Similarly, using Airbnb or a car-hire service forthe first time encourages people to try other offerings. Next, consider eBay. Having started outas a peer-to-peer marketplace, it is now dominated by professional "power sellers" (many ofwhom started out as ordinary eBay users). The same may happen with the sharing economy,which also provides new opportunities for enterprise. Some people have bought cars solely torent them out, for example.

　　H) Existing rental businesses are getting involved too. Avis, a car-hire firm, has a share in asharing rival. So do GM and Daimler, two carmakers. In future, companies may develop hybrid(混合的) models, listing excess capacity (whether vehicles, equipment or office space) on peer-to-peer rental sites. In the past, new ways of doing things online have not displaced the oldways entirely. But they have often changed them. Just as internet shopping forced Wal-martand Tesco to adapt, so online sharing will shake up transport, tourism, equipment-hire andmore.

　　I) The main worry is regulatory uncertainty. Will room-renters be subject to hotel taxes, forexample? In Amsterdam officials are using Airbnb listings to track down unlicensed hotels. Insome American cities, peer-to-peer taxi services have been banned after lobbying bytraditional taxi firms. The danger is that although some rules need to be updated to protectconsumers from harm, existing rental businesses will try to destroy competition. People whorent out rooms should pay tax, of course, but they should not be regulated like a Ritz-Carltonhotel. The lighter rules that typically govern bed-and-breakfasts are more than adequate.

　　J) The sharing economy is the latest example of the internet's value to consumers. Thisemerging model is now big and disruptive (颠覆性的) enough for regulators and companies tohave woken up to it. That is a sign of its immense potential. It is time to start caring aboutsharing.

　　注意：此部分试题请在答题卡2上作答。

　　46.Sharing items such as cars does good to the environment.

　　47.Airbnb's success clearly illustrates the emergence of a huge sharing economy.

　　48.The major concern about the sharing economy is how the government regulates it.

　　49.The most frequently shared items are those expensive to buy but not fully used.

　　50.The sharing economy has a promising future.

　　51.Online sharing will change the way business is done in transportation, travel, rentals, etc.

　　52.Airbnb is a website that enables owners and renters to complete transactions online.

　　53.The sharing economy is likely to go the way of online shopping.

　　54.One advantage of sharing is that owners earn money from renting out items not made fulluse of.

　　55.Sharing appeals to the sociable in that they can meet new people.

　　【参考答案】

　　46-55 EAICJ HAGEF

　　Passage One

　　Questions 56 to 60 are based on the following passage.

　　In recent years, a growing body of research has shown that our appetite and food intake areinfluenced by a large number of factors besides our biological need for energy, including oureating environment and our perception of the food in front of us.

　　Studies have shown, for instance, that eating in front of the TV (or a similar distraction) canincrease both hunger and the amount of food consumed. Even simple visual cues, like plate sizeand lighting, have been shown to affect portion size and consumption.

　　A new study suggested that our short-term memory also may play a role in appetite. Severalhours after a meal, people's hunger levels were predicted not by how much they'd eaten butrather by how much food they'd seen in front of them-in other words, how much theyremembered eating.

　　This disparity(差异) suggests the memory of our previous meal may have a bigger influence onour appetite than the actual size of the meal, says Jeffrey M. Brunstrom, a professor ofexperimental psychology at the University of Bristol.

　　"Hunger isn't controlled solely by the physical characteristics of a recent meal. We haveidentified an independent role for memory for that meal," Brunstrom says. "This shows thatthe relationship between hunger and food intake is more complex than we thought."

　　These findings echo earlier research that suggests our perception of food can sometimes trickour body's response to the food itself. In a 2011 study, for instance, people who drank thesame 380-calorie(卡路里) milkshake on two separate occasions produced different levels ofhunger-related hormones(荷尔蒙), depending on whether the shake's label said it contained620 or 140 calories. Moreover, the participants reported feeling more full when they thoughtthey'd consumed a higher-calorie shake.

　　What does this mean for our eating habits? Although it hardly seems practical to trick ourselvesinto eating less, the new findings do highlight the benefits of focusing on our food andavoiding TV and multitasking while eating.

　　The so-called mindful-eating strategies can fight distractions and help us control our appetite,Brunstrom says.

　　56. What is said to be a factor affecting our appetite and food intake?

　　A) How we perceive the food we eat.

　　B) What ingredients the food contains.

　　C) When we eat our meals.

　　D) How fast we eat our meals.

　　57. What would happen at meal time if you remembered eating a lot in the previous meal?

　　A) You would probably be more picky about food.

　　B) You would not feel like eating the same food.

　　C) You would have a good appetite.

　　D) You would not feel so hungry.

　　58. What do we learn from the 2011 study?

　　A) Food labels may mislead consumers in their purchases.

　　B) Food labels may influence our body's response to food.

　　C) Hunger levels depend on one's consumption of calories.

　　D) People tend to take in a lot more calories than necessary.

　　59. What does Brunstrom suggest we do to control our appetite?

　　A) Trick ourselves into eating less.

　　B) Choose food with fewer calories.

　　C) Concentrate on food while eating.

　　D) Pick dishes of the right size.

　　60. What is the main idea of the passage?

　　A) Eating distractions often affect our food digestion.

　　B) Psychological factors influence our hunger levels.

　　C) Our food intake is determined by our biological needs.

　　D) Good eating habits will contribute to our health.

　　Passage Two

　　Questions 61 to 65 are based on the following passage.

　　As a society we might want to rethink the time and money spent on education, so that theseresources can benefit a greater percentage of the population. Ideally, both high schools andcolleges can prepare individuals for the ever-changing roles that are likely to be expected ofthem.

　　High school degrees offer far less in the way of preparation for work than they might, or thanmany other nations currently offer, creating a growing skills gap in our economy. Weencourage students to go on to college whether they are prepared or not. or have a clearsense of purpose or interest, and now have the highest college dropout rate in the world.

　　We might look to other countries for models of how high schools can offer better training, aswell as the development of a work ethic (勤奋工作的美德) and the intellectual skills needed forcontinued learning and development. 1 recommend Harvard's 2011 "Pathways to Prosperity"report for more attention to the "forgotten half" (those who do not go on to college) and ideasabout how to address this issue.

　　Simultaneously, the liberal arts become more important than ever. In a knowledge economywhere professional roles change rapidly and many college students are preparing for positionsthat may not even exist yet, the skill set needed is one that prepares them for change andcontinued learning.

　　Learning to express ideas well in both writing and speech, knowing how to find information, andknowing how to do research are all solid background skills for a wide variety of roles, and suchtraining is more important than any particular major in a liberal arts college. We need tocontinue to value broad preparation in thinking skills that will serve for a lifetime.

　　Students also need to learn to work independently and to make responsible decisions. Thelengthening path to adulthood appears exacerbated(恶化) by parental involvement in thecollege years. Given the rising investment in college education, parental concern is notsurprising, but learning where and when to intervene(干预) will help students take moreownership of the outcomes of these increasingly costly educations.

　　注意：此部分试题请在答题卡2上作答。

　　61. What kind of education does the author think is ideal?

　　A) It benefits the great majority of the general population.

　　B) It prepares students to meet the future needs of society.

　　C) It encourages students to learn throughout their lives.

　　D) It ensures that students' expectations are successfully fulfilled.

　　62. What does the author say is the problem with present high school education?

　　A) Ignoring the needs of those who don't go to college.

　　B) Teaching skills to be used right after graduation only.

　　C) Giving little attention to those having difficulty learning.

　　D) Creating the highest dropout rate in the developed world.

　　63. What characterizes a knowledge economy according to the passage?

　　A) People have to receive higher education to qualify for a professional position.

　　B) Students majoring in liberal arts usually have difficulty securing a job.

　　C) New positions are constantly created that require people to keep learning.

　　D) Colleges find it hard to teach students how to cope with the changing economy.

　　64. What does the author think a liberal arts college should focus on?

　　A) Solid background knowledge in a particular field.

　　B) Practical skills urgently needed in current society.

　　C) Basic skills needed for change and lifelong learning.

　　D) Useful thinking skills for advanced academic research.

　　65. What suggestion does the author offer to parents?

　　A) Rethinking the value of higher education.

　　B) Investing wisely in their children's education.

　　C) Helping their children to bring their talent into full play.

　　D) Avoiding too much intervention in their children's education.

　　许多人喜欢中餐。在中国，烹饪不仅被视为一种技能，而且也被视为一种艺术。精心准备的中餐既可口又好看。烹饪技艺和配料在中国各地差别很大。但好的烹饪都有一个共同点，总是要考虑到颜色、味道，口感和营养(nutrition)。由于食物对健康至关重要，好的厨师总是努力在谷物、肉类和蔬菜之间取得平衡，所以中餐既味美又健康。

　　注意：此部分试题请在答题卡2上作答。