2013 年 12 月英语四级真题(第一套)
Part I
Writing
(30 minutes)
Directions: Forthispart,youareallowed30minutestowriteashortessaybased
on the picture below. You should start your essay with a brief account
oftheimpactoftheInternetonlearningandthenexplainwhyeducation
doesn’t simply mean learning to obtain information. You should write
at least 120 words but no more than 180 words.
Part Ⅱ
Section A
Listening Comprehension
(30 minutes)
Directions: In this section, you will hear 8 short conversations and 2 long
conversations.Attheendofeachconversation,oneormorequestions
will be asked about what was said. Both the conversation and the
questionswillbespokenonlyonce.Aftereachquestiontherewillbe
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
correspondingletteronAnswerSheetIwithasinglelinethroughthe
centre.
1. A) The woman is now working in a kindergarten.
B) The man will soon start a business of his own.
C) The man would like to be a high school teacher.
D) The woman is going to major in child education.
2. A) The furniture has to be rearranged.
B) The sound equipment has to be set up.
C) The conference room has to be cleaned.
D) The video machine has to be checked.
3. A) She is exhausted.
B) She is near-sighted.
C) She cannot finish work in time.
D) She cannot go straight home.
4. A) The woman is too particular about food.
B) He would rather have a meal an hour later.
C) The woman should order her food quickly.
D) He usually prefers ice-cream to sandwiches.
5. A) He is not a good mechanic.
B) He doesn’t keep his promises.
C) He spends his spare time doing repairs.
D) He is always ready to offer help to others.
6. A) Sam has a big family to support.
B) Sam is not interested in traveling.
C) The pay offer by the travel agency is too low.
D) The work hours in the travel agency are too long.
7. A) International trade.
B) Product development.
C) Financial consulting.
D) Domestic retailing.
8. A) Go on a business trip.
B) Look for a job in Miami.
C) Make a ticket reservation.
D) Take a vacation.
Questions 9 to 11 are based on the conversation you have just heard.
9. A) It is located on Route 18.
B) It has an interesting museum.
C) It is a beautiful little town.
D) It lies seven miles east of Newton.
10. A) They are in opposite directions.
B) They are fifty-five miles apart.
C) They are quite close to each other.
D) They are a long drive from Norwalk.
11. A) They are connected by Route 7.
B) They are crowded with tourists.
C) They have lots of old houses.
D) They have many rare plants.
Questions 12 to 15 are based on the conversation you have just heard.
12. A) Bring him up to date on the current situation in Milan.
B) Inform him of the arrangements for his trip in Italy.
C) Fetch the documents signed by Mr. Gartner.
D) Accompany Mr. Gartner to the Linate airport.
13. A) About 8:30.
B) About 6:30.
C) About 5:30.
D) About 4:15.
14. A) Mr. Gartner from Milan.
B) Gianni Riva at Megastar.
C) The company’s sales representative.
D) Gavin from the Chamber of Commerce.
15. A) Travel agent.
B) Business manager.
C) Secretary.
D) Saleswoman.
Section B
Directions: In this section, you will hear 3 short passages. At the end of each
passage,youwillhearsomequestions.Boththepassageandthequestions
willbespokenonlyonce.Afteryouhearaquestion,youmustchoosethe
bestanswerfromthefourchoicesmarkedA),B),C)andD).Thenmarkthe
corresponding letter on Answer Sheet I with a single line through the
centre.
Passage One
Questions 16 to 19 are based on the passage you have just heard.
16. A) She had a desire to help others.
B) She wanted to find out more about it.
C) She needed some overseas experience.
D) She was interested in farming.
17. A) Carry out a cultural exchange program.
B) Work on an agricultural project.
C) Learn Portuguese.
D) Teach English.
18. A) She found it difficult to secure a job in her own country.
B) She wanted to renew her contact with the Peace Corps.
C) She was invited to work as an English teacher.
D) She could not get the country out of her mind.
19. A) By teaching additional English classes.
B) By writing stories for American newspapers.
C) By working part time for the Peace Corps.
D) By doing odd jobs for local institutions.
Passage Two
Questions 20 to 22 are based on the passage you have just heard.
20. A) Time spent exercising.
B) Time spent working.
C) Time spent on leisure activities.
D) Time spent with friends and family.
21. A) Reading.
B) Surfing the Web.
C) Eating out.
D) Watching TV.
22. A) Driving.
B) Gardening.
C) Going to the pub.
D) Visiting friends.
Passage Three
Questions 23 to 25 are based on the passage you have just heard.
23. A) The car driver was trying to avoid hitting a rabbit.
B) The car driver was partly responsible for the accident.
C) McLaughlin was talking to his manager while driving.
D) McLaughlin’s carelessness resulted in the collision.
24. A) He crashed into a car parked there.
B) He knocked down several mailboxes.
C) He tore down the company’s main gate.
D) He did serious damage to a loaded truck.
25. A) He will lose his job.
B) He will have to pay damages.
C) He will be fined heavily.
D) He will receive retraining.
Section C
Directions: Inthissection,youwillhearapassagethreetimes.Whenthepassage
is readfor thefirsttime, youshouldlistencarefully forits general
idea. When the passageis readfor thesecond time, you are requiredto
fillintheblankswiththeexactwordsyouhavejustheard.Finally,when
the passage is read for the third time, you should check what you have
written.
When Captain Cook asked the chiefs in Tahiti why they always are
26 , they
replied, “Because it is right.” If we ask Americans why they eat with knives and
forks, or why their men wear pants
27
skirts, or why they may be married to only
one person at a time, we are likely to get
28
and very uninformative answers:
“Because it’s right.” “Because that’s the way it’s done.” “Because it’s
the
29 .” Or even “I don’t know.” The reason for these and countless other
patterns of social behavior is that they are
30
by social norms—shared rules 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
particular society. 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 not be surprised if a stranger tried to shake hands when you were
introduced, but you might be a little
34
if they bowed, started to stroke you or
kissed you on both
35 . Yet each of these other forms of greeting is appropriate
in other parts of the world. When we visit another society whose norms are different,
we quickly become aware that things we do this way, they do that way.
Part Ⅲ
Section A
Reading Comprehension
(40 minutes)
Directions: In this section, there isa passagewithten blanks.Youarerequired
toselectonewordforeachblankfromalistofchoicesgiveninaword
bank following the passage: Read the passage through carefully before
making yourchoices.Eachchoice inthebank isidentified bya letter.
PleasemarkthecorrespondingletterforeachitemonAnswerSheet2with
asinglelinethroughthecentre.Youmaynotuseanyofthewordsinthe
bank more than once.
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 or four-year bachelor’s degree programs. But as the nursing shortage
36 , a growing number of schools and hospitals are establishing “fast-track
programs” that enable college graduates with 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 is Columbia University’s Entry to Practice program. Students earn their
bachelor of science in nursing 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 are recent
41 ; others are career switchers. Rudy Guardron, 32,
a 2004 graduate of Columbia’s program, was a premedical student in college and then
worked for a pharmaceutical(药物的) research company. At Columbia, he was 42
as
a nurse practitioner. “I saw that nurses were in high 43
and it looked like a
really good opportunity,” 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 and veterans. “Nurses that are still at the bedside 45
these kids with
suspicion,” says Linda Pellico, who has taught nursing at Yale University for 18
years. “They wonder, how can they do it quicker?” The answer is they don’t.
A) additional
B) applied
C) demand
D) excessive
E) experience
F) expores
G) graduates
H) operations
Section B
I) promote
J) qualifies
K) specialized
L) tension
M) trained
N) view
O) worsens
Directions: In this section, you are going to read a passage with ten statements
attachedtoit.Eachstatementcontainsinformationgiveninoneofthe
paragraphs.Identifytheparagraphfromwhichtheinformationisderived.
Youmaychooseaparagraphmorethanonce.Eachparagraphismarkedwith
a letter. Answer the questions by marking the corresponding letter on
Answer Sheet 2.
[A] Last night 40,000 people rented accommodation from a service that offers 250,000
The rise of the sharing economy
rooms in 30,000 cities in 192 countries. They chose their rooms and paid for
everything online. But their beds were provided by private individuals, rather
than a hotel chain. Hosts and guests were matched up by Airbnb, a firm based
in San Francisco. Since its launch in 2008 more than 4 million people have used
it—2.5 million of them in 2012 alone. It is the most prominent example of a
huge new “sharing economy”, in which people rent beds, cars, boats and other
assets directly 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 a timeshare (分时度假房) or participating in a car pool. But
technology has reduced transaction costs, making sharing assets cheaper and
easier than ever—and therefore possible on a much larger scale. The big change
is the availability of more data about people and things, which allows physical
assets to be divided and consumed as services. Before the internet, renting a
surfboard, a power tool or a parking space from someone else was feasible, but
was usually more trouble than it was worth. Now websites such as Airbnb.
RelayRides and SnapGoods match up owners and renters; smartphones with GPS let
people see where the nearest rentable car is parked; social networks provide a
way to check up on people and build trust; and online payment 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 sites let individuals act as an adhoc(临时的) taxi service, car-hire
firm or boutiquehotel (精品酒店) as and when it suits them. Just go online or
download an app. The model works for items that are expensive to buy and are
widely owned by people who do not make full use of them. Bedrooms and 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 to put it, access trumps (胜过) ownership.
[D] Rachel Botsman, the author of a book on the subject, says the consumer
peer-to-peer rental market alone is worth $26 billion. Broader definitions of
the sharing economy include peer-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 spare offices
and idle machines, too. But the core of the sharing economy is people renting
things from each other.
[E] Such “collaborative(合作的) consumption” is a good thing for several reasons.
Owners make money from underused assets. Airbnb says hosts in San Francisco who
rent out their homes do so for an average of 58 nights a year, making $ 9,300.
Car owners who rent their vehicles to others using RelayRides make an average
of $250 a month; some make more than $1,000. Renters, meanwhile, pay less than
they would if they bought the item themselves, or turned to a traditional provider
such as a hotel or car-hire firm. And there are environmental benefits, too:
renting a car when you need it, rather than owning one, means fewer cars are
required 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 at conventional hotels. For others, the web fosters trust. As well
as the background checks carried out by platform owners, online reviews and
ratings are usually posted by both parties to 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 out and
identify friends (or friends of friends) in common. An Airbnb user had her
apartment trashed 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 for the first time encourages
people to try other offerings. Next, consider eBay. Having started out as a
peer-to-peer marketplace, it is now dominated by professional “power sellers”
(many of whom 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 to rent them out, for example.