大学英语四级阅读练习和参考答案

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　　大学英语四级阅读练习和参考答案：

　　Questions 56 to 60 are based on the following passage.

　　Some people say the traditional calendar of 180 days no longer meets the needs of American society. They point out that students in most other industrial countries are in school more hours a day and more days a year. Critics also say a long summer vacation causes students to forget much of what they learned and schools are under pressure to raise test scores. Some schools have changed their calendars to try to improve student performance. They have lengthened the school day or added days to the year or both. This can be costly if schools need air conditioning on hot days and school employees need to be paid for the extra time.

　　Some schools have a year-round schedule. The school year is extended over twelve months. Instead of a long vacation, there are many short ones. Local businesses may object to a longer school year because students are unable to work as long at summer jobs. Some parts of the country had year- round programs in the nineteenth century, mostly for economic reasons. They felt it wasted money to use school buildings for only part of the year. Year-round programs can also reduce crowding in schools. In one version, students attend school for nine weeks and then have three weeks off. The students are in groups that are not all in school at the same time.

　　Another year-round calendar has all students in school together for nine weeks and off for three. This is meant to provide the continuous learning that can be lost over a long break. But year-round schooling has opponents. They say it can cause problems for families when they want to make summer plans. And they say it interferes with activities outside school -- including summer employment.

　　Some experts say no really good studies have been done to measure the effect of school calendars on performance. But some educators think year-round schooling especially helps students from poor families that lack educational support at home.

　　56. The best title for the passage seems to be

　　A) Debating upon Year-round Schooling

　　B) Advantages of Year-round Education

　　C) Disadvantages of a Long Summer Vacation

　　D) Different Types of School Calendars

　　57. Which of the following is NOT one of the reasons that schools should extend school days?

　　A) The traditional calendar is out of date.

　　B) Long holidays cause students to forget much of what they learned.

　　C) Schools face pressure to raise test marks.

　　D) Schools in other countries do so.

　　58. There were year-round programs in the 19th century because of ..

　　A) the need of science

　　B) the need of research

　　C) economic reasons

　　D) political reasons

　　59. Those against year-round schooling argue that

　　A) it does little to help improve students' performance at school

　　B) it may cause leaming weariness

　　C) it will not have much educational value

　　D) it affects students' activities outside school

　　60. We leam from the passage that year-round schooling

　　A) will enable students to raise their scores

　　B) is expected to get under way soon

　　C) remains a controversial issue

　　D) is approved by the govenment

　　大学英语四级阅读练习和参考答案：

　　Questions 61 to 65 are based on the following passage.

　　Wouldn't it be great if you could just look up at the sky and read the weather forecast right away? Well, you can The forecast is written in clouds. If you can read that writing, you can tell something about the atmosphere. With some practice, you can become a pretty good weather forecaster. Who knows, you might even do as well as meteorologists.

　　Meteorologists use much more information than just the appearance of the clouds to make their forecast. They collect data from all over the world. Then they put it into powerful, high speed computers. This does give the meteorologists an advantage, because they can track weather patterns as they move from west to east across the country. But you have an advantage, too. You can look at the sky and get your data directly. A meteorologist uses a computer forecast that's several hours old to make a local forecast.

　　What are you seeing when you look at a cloud? "A picture of moisture is doing in the atmosphere," says meteorologist Peter Leavitt. There's moisture throughout the atmosphere. Most of the time you don't see it, because it's in the form of an invisible gas called water vapor. Sometimes, the temperature of the air gets cold enough to cause the water vapor to change to liquid water. It's called condensation, and we see it happen all the time (for example, when humid air from the shower hits the cold glasses of a mirror). When enough water vapor condenses, droplets come in the air. These droplets scatter light. A cloud is seen.

　　Watching clouds over a day or two tells you a lot more than a single cloud about the weather to come. Changes in clouds show changes in the atmosphere. You should begin to notice patterns. Certain clouds, following each other in order, can signal an approaching storm. But don't take our word for it; see for yourself.

　　61. The word "meteorologists" in the first paragraph means

　　A) people who broadcast weather on TV

　　B) people who are in charge of weather forecast

　　C) experts who study the earth's atmosphere and its changes

　　D) experts who study the earth's crust, rocks, strata and the history of its development

　　62. According to the passage, an ordinary person might do as well as meteorologist in weather forecast

　　A) with some simple practice looking up at the sky

　　B) with the help of the high-speed computers

　　C) through a complex instruments

　　D) consulting a weather station

　　63. Meteorologists can make their weather forecast

　　A) by using information of the appearance of the clouds only

　　B) by collecting data from parts of the world

　　C) by calculating and analyzing this data

　　D) by watching the sky

　　64. According to the passage, your advantage in weather forecasts is that

　　A) you have a high-speed computer

　　B) you observe the sky and obtain your data directly

　　C) you have more instruments at home

　　D) you can track weather patterns as they move from west to east across the country

　　65. This passage mainly tells us about how to

　　A) train yourself as a meteorologist

　　B) be an assistant to a meteorologist

　　C) forecast the weather by ourselves

　　D) broadcast the weather forecast