2009 年 12 月英语四级真题及答案
Part Ⅰ Writing (30 minutes)
注意:此部分试题在答题卡 1 上。
Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write a short essay
on the topic of Creating a Green Campus. You should write at least 120 words following
the outline given below:
1. 建设绿色校园很重要
2. 绿色校园不仅指绿色的环境……
3. 为了建设绿色校园,我们应该……
Creating a Green Campus
Part Ⅱ Reading Comprehension (Skimming and Scanning) (15 minutes)
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, choose the best answer
from the four choices marked A), B), C) and D). For question 8-10, complete the
sentences with the information given in the passage.
Colleges taking another look at value of merit-based aid
Good grades and high tests scores still matter—a lot—to many colleges as they
award financial aid.
But with low-income students projected to make up an ever-larger share of the
college-bound population in coming years, some schools are re-examining whether that
aid, typically known as “ merit aid ” , is the most effective use of precious
institutional dollars.
George Washington University in Washington, D.C., for example, said last week
that it would cut the value of its average merit scholarships by about one-third
and reduce the number of recipients(接受者), pouring the savings, about $2.5 million,
into need-based aid. Allegheny College in Meadville, Pa., made a similar decision
three years ago.
Now, Hamilton College in Clinton, N.Y., says it will phase out merit scholarships
altogether. No current merit-aid recipients will lose their scholarships, but
need-based aid alone will be awarded beginning with students entering in fall 2008.
Not all colleges offer merit aid; generally, the more selective a school, the
less likely it is to do so. Harvard and Princeton, for example, offer generous
need-based packages, but many families who don’t meet need eligibility(资格)have
been willing to pay whatever they must for a big-name school.
For small regional colleges that struggle just to fill seats, merit aid can be
an important revenue-builder because many recipients still pay enough tuition
dollars over and above the scholarship amount to keep the institution running.
But for rankings-conscious schools in between, merit aid has served primarily
as a tool to recruit top students and to improve their academic profits. “They’
re trying to buy students,” says Skidmore College economist Sandy Baum.
Studies show merit aid also tends to benefit disproportionately students who
could afford to enroll without it.
“As we look to the future, we see a more pressing need to invest in need-based
aid,” says Monica Inzer, dean of admission and financial aid at Hamilton, which
has offered merit scholarships for 10 years. During that time, it rose in US News
& World Report’s ranking of the best liberal arts colleges, from 25 to 17.
Merit aid, which benefited about 75 students a year, or about 4% of its student
body, at a cost of about $ 1 million a year, “served us well,” Inzer says, but
“to be discounting the price for families that don’t need financial aid doesn’
t feel right any more.”
Need-based aid remains by far the largest share of all student aid, which
includes state, federal and institutional grants. But merit aid, offered primarily
by schools and states, is growing faster, both overall and at the institutional
level.
Between 1995-96 and 2003-04, institutional merit aid alone increased 212%,
compared with 47% for need-based grants. At least 15 states also offer merit aid,
typically in a bid to enroll top students in the state’s public institutions.
But in recent years, a growing chorus(异口同声)of critics has begun pressuring
schools to drop the practice. Recent decisions by Hamilton and others may be “a
sign that people are starting to realize that there’s this destructive competition
going on,” says Baum, co-author of a recent College Report that raises concerns
about the role of institutional aid not based on need.
David Laird, president of the Minnesota Private College Council, says many of
his schools would like to reduce their merit aid but fear that in doing so, they
would lose top students to their competitors.
“No one can take one-sided action,” says Laird, who is exploring whether to
seek an exemption(豁免)from federal anti-trust laws so member colleges can discuss
how they could jointly reduce merit aid, “This is a merry-go-round that’s going
very fast, and none of the institutions believe they can sustain the risks of trying
to break away by themselves.”
A complicating factor is that merit aid has become so popular with middle-income
families, who don’t qualify for need-based aid, that many have come to depend on
it. And, as tuitions continue to increase, the line between merit and need blurs.
That’s one reason Allegheny College doesn’t plan to drop merit aid entirely.
“We still believe in rewarding superior achievements and know that these top
students truly value the scholarship,” says Scott Friedhoff, Allegheny’s vice
president for enrollment.
Emory University in Atlanta, which boasts a $4.7 billion endowment(捐赠),
meanwhile, is taking another approach. This year, it announced it would eliminate
loans for needy students and cap them for middle-income families. At the same time,
it would expand its 28-year-old merit program.
“Yeah, we’re playing the merit game,” acknowledges Tom Lancaster, associate
dean for undergraduate education. But it has its strong point, too, he says. “The
fact of the matter is, it’s not just about the lowest-income people. It’s the average
American middle-class family who’s being priced out of the market.”
*A few words about merit-based aid:
Merit-based aid is aid offered to students who achieve excellence in a given
area, and is generally known as academic, athletic and artistic merit scholarships.
Academic merit scholarships are based on students’ grades, GPA and overall
academic performance during high school. They are typically meant for students going
straight to college right after high school. However, there are scholarships for
current college students with exceptional grades as well. These merit scholarships
usually help students pay tuition bills, and they can be renewed each year as long
as the recipients continue to qualify. In some cases, students may need to be
recommended by their school or a teacher as part of the qualification process.
Athletic merit scholarships are meant for students that excel(突出)in sports
of any kind, from football to track and field events. Recommendation for these
scholarships is required, since exceptional athletic performance has to be
recognized by a coach or a referee(裁判). Applicants need to send in a tape containing
their best performance.
Artistic merit scholarships require that applicants excel in a given artistic
area. This generally includes any creative field such as art, design, fashion, music,
dance or writing. Applying for artistic merit scholarships usually requires that
students submit a portfolio(选辑)of some sort, whether that includes a collection
of artwork, a recording of a musical performance or a video of them dancing.
1. With more and more low-income students pursuing higher education, a number
of colleges are ________.
A) offering students more merit-based aid B) revising their financial aid
policies
C) increasing the amount of financial aid D) changing their admission processes
2. What did Allegheny College in Meadville do three years ago?
A) It tried to implement a novel financial aid program.
B) It added $ 2.5 million to its need-based aid program.
C) It phased out its merit-based scholarships altogether.
D) It cuts its merit-based aid to help the needy students.
3. The chief purpose of rankings-conscious colleges in offering merit aid is
to ______.
A) improve teaching quality B) boost their enrollments
C) attract good students D) increase their revenues
4. Monica Inzer, dean of admission and financial aid at Hamilton, believes
______.
A) it doesn’t pay to spend $ 1 million a year to raise its ranking
B) it gives students motivation to award academic achievements
C) it’s illogical to use so much money on only 4% of its students
D) it’s not right to give aid to those who can afford the tuition
5. In recent years, merit-based aid has increased much faster than need-based
aid due to ______.
A) more government funding to colleges B) fierce competition among institutions
C) the increasing number of top students D) schools ’ improved financial
situations
6. What is the attitude of many private colleges toward merit aid, according
to David Laird?
A) They would like to see it reduced.
B) They regard it as a necessary evil.
C) They think it does more harm than good.
D) They consider it unfair to middle-class families.
7. Why doesn’t Allegheny College plan to drop merit aid entirely?
A) Raising tuitions have made college unaffordable for middle-class families.
B) With rising incomes, fewer students are applying for need-based aid.
C) Many students from middle-income families have come to rely on it.
D) Rising incomes have disqualified many students for need-based aid.
8. Annual renewal of academic merit scholarships depends on whether the
recipients remain ______.
9. Applicants for athletic merit scholarships need a recommendation from a coach
or a referee who ______ their exceptional athletic performance.
10. Applicants for artistic merit scholarships must produce evidence to show
their ______ in a particular artistic field
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 the best answer is.
Then mark the corresponding letter on Answer sheet 2 with a single line through
the centre.
Questions 11 to 18 are based on the conversation you have just heard.
11. A) Get some small change. B) Find a shopping center.
C) Cash a check at a bank. D) Find a parking meter.
12. A) Shopping with his son. B) Buying a gift for a child.
C) Promoting a new product. D) Bargaining with a salesgirl.
13. A) Taking photographs. B) Enhancing images.
C) Mending cameras. D) Painting pictures.
14. A) He moved to Baltimore when he was young.
B) He can provide little useful information.
C) He will show the woman around Baltimore.
D) He will ask someone else to help the woman.
15. A) He is rather disappointed. B) He is highly ambitious.
C) He can’t face up to the situation D) He knows his own limitation.
16. A) She must have paid a lot
C) Her gym exercise has yielded good results.
D) Her effort to keep fit is really praiseworthy.
17. A) Female students are unfit for studying physics.
B) He can serve as the woman’s tutor.
B) She is known to have a terrific figure.
C) Physics is an important course at school.
D) The professor’s suggestion is constructive.
18. A) Indifferent. B) Doubtful. C) Pleased. D) Surprised.
Questions 19 to 22 are based on the conversation you have just heard.
19. A) He prefers the smaller evening classes. B) He has signed up for a day
course.
C) He has to work during the day. D) He finds the evening course cheaper.
20. A) Learn a computer language. B) Learn data processing.
C) Buy some computer software. D) Buy a few coursebooks.
21. A) Thursday evening, from 7:00 to 9:45. B) From September 1 to New Year’
s eve.
C) Every Monday, lasting for 12 weeks. D) Three hours a week, 45 hours in total.
22. A) What to bring for registration. B) Where to attend the class.
C) How he can get to Frost Hall. D) Whether he can use a check.
Questions 23 to 25 are based on the conversation you have just heard.
23. A) A training coach. B) A trading adviser.
C) A professional manager. D) A financial trader.
24. A) He can save on living expenses. B) He considers cooking creative.
C) He can enjoy healthier food. D) He thinks take-away is tasteless.
25. A) It is something inevitable.
C) It takes patience to manage.
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 centre.
Passage One
B) It is frustrating sometimes.
D) It can be a good thing.
Questions 26 to 28 are based on the passage you have just heard.
26. A) There were no planets without moons. B) There was no air or water on
Jupiter.
C) Life was not possible in outer space. D) The mystery of life could not be
resolved.
27. A) It has a number of active volcanoes. B) It has an atmosphere like the
earth’s.
C) It has a large ocean under its surface. D) It has deep caves several miles
long.
28. A) Light is not an essential element to it. B) Life can form in very hot
temperatures.
C) Every form of life undergoes evolution. D) Oxygen is not needed for some life
forms.
Passage Two
Questions 29 to 31 are based on the passage you have just heard.
29. A) Whether they should take the child home.
B) What Dr. Mayer’s instructions exactly were.
C) Who should take care of the child at home.
D) When the child would completely recover.
30. A) She encourages them to ask questions when in doubt.
B) She makes them write down all her instructions.
C) She has them act out what they are to do at home.
D) She asks them to repeat what they are supposed to do.
31. A) It lacks the stability of the printed word. B) It contains many grammatical
errors.
C) It is heavily dependent on the context. D) It facilitates interpe
Passage Three
Questions 33 to 35 are based on the passage you have just heard.
32. A) Job security. B) Good labour relations.
C) Challenging work. D) Attractive wages and benefits.
33. A) Many tedious jobs continue to be done manually.
B) More and more unskilled workers will lose jobs.
C) Computers will change the nature of many jobs.
D) Boring jobs will gradually be made enjoyable.
34. A) Offer them chances of promotion.
B) Improve their working conditions.
C) Encourage them to compete with each other.
D) Give them responsibilities as part of a team.
35. A) They will not bring real benefits to the staff.
B) They concern a small number of people only.
C) They are arbitrarily set by the administrators.
D) They are beyond the control of ordinary workers.
Section C
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 blanks, 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.
注意:此部分试题在答题卡 2 上。
In the humanities, authors write to inform you in many ways. These methods can
be (36) ______ into three types of informational writing: factual, descriptive, and
process.
Factual writing provides (37) ______ information on an author, composer, or
artist or on a type of music, literature, or art. Examples of factual writing include
notes on a book jacket or (38) ______ cover and longer pieces, such as an article
describing a style of music which you might read in a music (39) ______ course. This
kind of writing provides a (40) ______ for your study of the humanities.
As its name (41) ______, descriptive writing simply describes, or provides an
(42) ______ of, a piece of music, art, or literature. For example, descriptive
writing might list the colors an artist used in a painting or the (43) ______ a
composer included in a musical composition, so as to make pictures or sounds in the
reader’s mind by calling up specific details of the work. (44) ________.
Process writing explains a series of actions that bring about a result. (45)
________. This kind of writing is often found in art, where understanding how an
art has created a certain effect is important. (46) _________.
Part Ⅳ Reading Comprehension (Reading in Depth) (25 minutes)
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 the bank is identified by a letter. 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 47 to 56 are based on the following passage.
In families with two working parents, fathers may have more impact on a child’
s language development than mothers, a new study suggests.
Researchers —— 92 families form 11 child care centers before their children
were a year old, interviewing each to establish income, level of education and child
care arrangements. Overall, it was a group of well-class families, with married
parents both living in the home.
When the children were 2, researchers videotaped them at home in free-play
sessions with both parents, —— all of their speech. The study will appear in the
November issue of The Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology.
The scientists measured the —— number of utterance (话语) of the parents, the
number of different words they used, the complexity of their sentences and other
—— of their speech. On average, fathers spoke less than mothers did, but they did
not differ in the length of utterances or proportion of questions asked.
Finally, the researchers — — the children ’ s speech at age 3, using a
standardized language test. The only predictors of high scores on the test were the
mother’s level of education, the ——of child care and the number of different words
the father used.
The researchers are —— why the father’s speech, and not the mother’s, had
an effect.
“It’s well —— that the mother’s language does have an impact,” said Nadya
Pancsofar, the lead author of the study. It could be that the high-functioning
mothers in the study had——had a strong influence on their children’s speech
development, Ms. Pancsofar said, “or it may be that mothers are —— in a way we
didn’t measure in the study.”
注意:此部分试题在答题卡 1 上。
A) already B) analyzed C) aspects D) characters E) contributing F) describing
G) established H) quality I) quoted J) recording K) recruited L) total
M) unconscious N) unsure O) yet
Section B
Directions: There are 2 passages in this section. Each passage is followed by
some questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices
marked A), 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 One
Questions 57 to 61 are based on the following passage.
Throughout this long, tense election, everyone has focused on the presidential
candidates and how they’ll change America. Rightly so, but selfishly, I’m more
fascinated by Michelle Obama and what she might be able to do, not just for this
country, but for me as an African-American woman. As the potential First Lady, she
would have the world’s attention. And that means that for the first time people
will have a chance to get up close and personal with the type of African-American
woman they so rarely see.
Usually, the lives of black women go largely unexamined. The prevailing theory
seems to be that we’re all hot-tempered single mothers who can’t keep a man. Even
in the world of make-believe, black women still can’t escape the stereotype of being
eye-rolling, oversexed females raised by our never-married, alcoholic (酗酒的)
mothers.
These images have helped define the way all women are viewed, including Michelle
Obama. Before she ever gets the chance to commit to a cause, charity or foundation
as First Lady, her most urgent and perhaps most complicated duty may be simple to
be herself.
It won’t be easy. Because few mainstream publications have done in-depth
features on regular African-American women, little is known about who we are, what
we think and what we face on a regular basis. For better or worse, Michelle will
represent us all.
Just as she will have her critics, she will also have millions of fans who usually
have little interest in the First Lady. Many African-American blogs have written
about what they’d like to see Michelle bring to the White House—mainly showing
the world that a black woman can support her man and raise a strong black family.
Michelle will have to work to please everyone—an impossible task. But for many
African-American women like me, just a little of her poise (沉着), confidence and
intelligence will go a long way in changing an image that’s been around for far
too long.
57. Why does Michelle Obama hold a strong fascination for the author?
A) She serves as a role model for African women.
B) She possesses many admirable qualities becoming a First Lady.
C) She will present to the world a new image of African-American women.
D) She will pay closer attention to the interests of African-American women.
58. What is the common stereotype of African-American women according to the
author?
A) They are victims of violence. B) They are of an inferior violence.