英语四级模拟题

Part I Writing (30 minutes)

Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write a short essay on the topic of Stepping Away from Online Games. You should write at least 120 words following the outline given below:

1. 现在许多大学生沉溺于网络游戏； 2. 沉溺于网络游戏给大学生带来的影响 3. 建议大家远离这种消遣方式 Stepping Away from Online Games

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 questions 8-10, complete the sentences with the information given in the passage.

Happiness and Sadness

Happiness and sadness are two most basic and familiar feeling for human beings. Recently, people have achieved further understanding about them.

Happiness

University of Illinois, psychologist Ed Diener, who has studied happiness for a quarter century, was in Scotland recently, explaining to members of Parliament and business leaders the value of increasing traditional measures of a country's wealth with a national index of happiness. Such an index would measure policies known to increase people‘s sense of well-being, such as democratic freedoms, access to health care and the rule of law.

Eric Wilson tried to get with the program. Urged on by friends, he bought books on how to become happier. He made every effort to smooth out his habitual worried look and wear a sunny smile, since a happy expression can lead to genuinely happy feelings. Wilson, a professor of English at Wake Forest University, took up jogging, reputed to boost the brain's supply of joyful neuro-chemicals, and began his conversations with \"great!\" and \"wonderful!\

However, some scientists are releasing the most-extensive-ever study comparing moderate and extreme levels of happiness, and finding that being happier is not always better. In surveys of 118, 519 people from 96 countries, scientists examined how various levels of subjective well-being matched up with income, education, political participation, volunteer activities and close relationships. They also analyzed how different levels of happiness, as reported by college students, correlated with various outcomes. Even allowing for imprecision in people's self-reported sense of well-being, the results were unambiguous. The highest levels of happiness go along with the most stable, longest and most contented relationships. That is, even a little discontent with your partner can cause you to look around for someone better, until you are at best a serial monogamist and at worst never in a loving, stable relationship.

Nevertheless, ―once a moderate level of happiness is achieved, further increases can sometimes be harmful‖ to income, career success, education and political participation, Diener and colleagues write in the journal Perspectives on Psychological Science. On a scale from 1 to 10, where 10 is extremely happy, 8s were more successful than 9s and 10s, getting more education and earning more. That probably reflects the fact that people who are somewhat discontent, but not so depressed as to be paralyzed, are more motivated to improve both their own lot (thus driving themselves to acquire more education and seek ever-more-challenging jobs) and the lot of

their community (causing them to participate more in civic and political life). In contrast, people at the top of the jolliness charts feel no such urgency. \"If you're totally satisfied with your life and with how things are going in the world,\" says Diener, ―you don't feel very motivated to work for change. Be wary when people tell you that you should be happier.‖

Sadness

The drawbacks of constant, extreme happiness should not be surprising, since negative emotions evolved for a reason. Fear tips us off to the presence of danger, for instance. Sadness, too, seems to be part of our biological inheritance. Wilson argues that only by experiencing sadness can we experience the fullness of the human condition. He also asserts that ―the happy man is a hollow man, ―but he is hardly the first scholar to see melancholia (精神忧郁症) as inspiration. A classical Greek text, possibly written by Aristotle, asks, ―Why is it that all those who have become outstanding in philosophy or politics or poetry or the arts are clearly melancholic?‖ Wilson‘s answer is that \"the blues can be a catalyst (催化剂) for a special kind of genius, a genius for exploring dark boundaries between opposites. ―The ever-restless, the chronically discontent, are dissatisfied with the status quo, be it in art or literature or politics.

For all their familiarity, these arguments are nevertheless being crushed by the happiness movement. Last August, the novelist Mary Gordon lamented to The New York Times that ―among writers... what is absolutely not allowable is sadness. People will do anything rather than to acknowledge that they are sad.‖ And, Jess Decourcy Hinds, an English teacher, recounted how, after her father died, friends pressed her to distract herself from her profound sadness and sense of loss. ―Why don't people accept that after a parent's death, there will be years of grief?‖ she wrote. ―Everyone wants mourners to ‗snap out of it‘ because observing another‘s distress isn‘t easy.‖

It's hard to say exactly when ordinary Americans, no less than psychiatrists (精神病学家) began insisting that sadness is pathological (病态的). But by the end of the millennium that attitude was well established. In 1999, Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman was revived on Broadway 50 years after its premiere. A reporter asked two psychiatrists to read the script. Their diagnosis: Willy Loman was suffering from clinical depression, a pathological condition that could and should be treated with drugs. Miller was appalled. ―Loman is not a depressive,‖ he told The New York Times. ―He is weighed down by life. There are social reasons for why he is where he is.‖ What society once viewed as an appropriate reaction to failed hopes and dashed dreams, it now regards as a psychiatric illness.

As NYU's Wakefield and Allan Horwitz of Rutgers University point out in The Loss of Sadness, this message has its roots in the bible of mental illness, The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Its definition of a ―major depressive episode‖ is remarkably broad. You must experience five not-uncommon symptoms, such as insomnia (失眠), difficulty concentrating and feeling sad or empty, for two weeks; the symptoms must cause distress or impairment, and they cannot be due to the death of a loved one. Anyone meeting these criteria is supposed to be treated.

When someone is appropriately sad, friends and colleagues offer support and sympathy. But by labeling appropriate sadness pathological, ―we have attached a stigma to being sad,‖ says Wake-field, ―with the result that depression tends to elicit（得出，引出）hostility and rejection ―with an undercurrent of ‗Get over it; take a pill.‘ The normal range of human emotion is not being tolerated.‖ ―We don't know how drugs react with normal sadness and its functions, such as reconstituting your life out of the pain,‖ says Wakefield. Those psychiatrists also express doubts to medicalise the sadness.

1. According to Ed Diener, which of the following can be measured by the index of happiness?

A) The standard of morality. B) The freedom of speech.

C) The sense of well-being D) The access to health care. 2. In order to be happy, Wilson tried many ways such as_______.

A) borrowing books on how to become happier B) trying to keep a sunny smile C) starting his conversations with ―Hello!‖ D) trying to have a good rest 3. Who have the highest level of happiness according to the survey in 96 countries?

A) People with the most wealth. B) People with the best health. C) People with the highest position. D) People with the most stable relationship.

4. According to Diener's statements in Perspectives on Psychological Science, the person with the

moderate level of happiness will get ___________. A) more education B) moderate success C) less earning move ahead?

A) Because they have spent all their time pursuing the happiness. B) Because they don't allow their work to affect their feeling of happiness. C) Because they are too satisfied with happiness they have owned. D) Because they do not like people to tell them to be happier.

6. Which of the following is the possible answer to the questions set by Aristotle in Wilson's opinion?

A) The sadness can make one be stronger. B) The sadness can make one be intelligent. C) The sadness can force one to think more deeply. D) The sadness can make one more depressed.

7. After the death of her father, friends of Jess Hinds tried to help her out of_______.

A) working pressure B) emotional trouble C) economic pressure D) marriage problem

8. Willy, the character in Death of a Salesman, was diagnosed by two psychiatrists to get suffering from

______________.

9. One experiencing a \"major depressive episode\" has to experience five not-uncommon symptoms for a

period of _____________.

10. When someone is not in good mood, his friends should give him ______________. Part III Listening Comprehension (35 minutes) Section A

Directions: In this section, you will hear 8 short conversations and 2 long conversations. Both the conversation and the questions will be spoken only once. After each question there will be a pause. Decide which the best answer is.

11. A) Customer and assistant. B) Father and daughter

C) Dentist and patient D) Teacher and student B) People should avoid being killed unexpectedly

C) People should have made greater achievement. D) People should not idle away their life.

13. A) Intensive Reading B) Extensive Reading 12. A) People should have taken things more seriously.

D) more reputation

5. According to Diener, why do those people with the highest level of happiness have less motivation to

C) Literature D) Listening

14. A) The woman goes to a full-time school and works part time.

B) The woman has to work to support herself.

C) The woman‘s classes are not difficult. D) The woman takes evening courses. C) Because he didn‘t have the time. C) Jack saved all the other passengers. 17. A) The plane is full.

C) The plane has broken down.

D) Because he couldn‘t stand football. B) Jack was the only victim of the accident. D) Jack had little damage done to his car. B) The plane is late. D) The flight is canceled.

15. A) Because Maria didn‘t like the game. B) Because Maria fell ill.

16. A) Jack survived the accident.

18. A) Because all rooms are taken. B) Because many spare rooms are available.

C) Because there are only double rooms. D) Because there is just a single room. Questions 19 to 22 are based on the conversation you have just heard. 19. A) He wants to become a cook.

B) He hopes to go on to graduate school.

C) He wants to travel around the world. D) He‘d like to work at a hotel. 20. A) History B) French C) Computer Science D) Hotel Management 21. A) She has a part-time job. B) She received a scholarship.

C) Her parents pay for it. D) She is working as a tourist guide.

22. A) At a bakery. B) In a library. C) At a restaurant D) At a travel agency Questions 23 to 25 are based on the conversation you have just heard. 23. A) To ask for a job interview.

B) To talk about the arrangement of a news conference. C) To make a discussion about the new book. D) To make an appointment with the man. 24. A) Sunday morning, 11 o‘clock. 25. A) They will have a talk at a hotel.

B) The woman will pick up the man at his place. C) The man will go to the garden of the woman‘s house. D) They will go to Fifth Avenue of downtown area.

Section B

Directions: In this section, you will hear 3 short passages. Choose the best answer from the four choices.

Passage One

Questions 26 to 28 are based on the passage you have just heard.

26. A) Her husband had got a higher position. B) Her husband had lost his job.

C) She wanted to have a cleaner house. D) She wanted to move to New York. 27. A) His telephone went out of order. B) The buyers had to leave soon.

C) He began to work at 8 a.m.

D) He had made an appointment with her at 8 a.m.

B) They saw something they had never seen. D) They saw something familiar to them.

28. A) They considered her lazy. Passage two

B) Thursday morning, around 10 o‘clock.

C) Friday morning, around 10 o‘clock. D) Monday morning, 11 o‘clock.

C) They considered her foolish.

Questions 29 to 31 are based on the passage you have just heard. 29. A) Men and women. B) Women and girls.

C) Boys and girls. D) Men and boys. B) Because T-shirts are smart and comfortable. C) Because T-shirts go well with trousers. D) Because T-shirts are suitable for evening wear. 31. A) The silk T-shirt in white color.

B) The cotton T-shirt with a slogan or picture. C) The Nylon T-shirt worn on playground. D) The wool T-shirt worn for work. Passage three

Questions 32 to 35 are based on the passage you have just heard.

32. A) For protection against other animals. B) For protection against other dogs.

C) Just for fun.

D) For the purpose of guarding the house.

33. A) Because they did not eat other animals.

B) Because they were useful for protection. C) Because they were good hunters. D) Because they always obeyed their masters. 34. A) For companionship

C) For protection against robbery

35. A) The city can be a lonely place Section C

Directions: In this section, you will hear a passage three times. 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 can either use the exact words you have just heard or write down the main points in your own words.

Throughout history the basic unit of almost every human society has been the family. Members of a family live together under the same roof, and they share the economic (36) of life as well as its affectionate joys. It is the family that has (37) responsibility for the important task of raising children to adulthood.

The family is not a uniform concept in all societies. In many places it is an (38) group that includes uncles, aunts, (39) and in –laws. The head of the family usually has considerable influence in arranging marriage, selecting careers and (40) all the important moves and (41) by any member of the family. (42) where the society or the state does not give aid and where (43) the responsibilities of the family are greater, (44) .

In many other societies, including most industrialized ones, the ―nuclear family‖ is the basic social unit. (45) . Industrialization and urbanization create many specialized jobs which tend to scatter family members among different employers and thus to separate residences as soon as they become wage earners. (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

B) For amusement D) For hunting

B) Life in the west can be very dangerous

30. A) Because T-shirts feel soft and wash well.

C) People in the West are fond of animals D) The dog is a useful and friendly animal

from a list of choices given in a word bank following the passage. You may not use any of the words in the bank more than once.

Questions 47-56 are based on the following passage.

Although the enjoyment of color is universal and color theory has all kinds of names to it, color remains a very emotional and subjective element. Our awareness of color is 47 conditioned by our Culture, but color also probably 48 our instincts. Our psyche (心智) reacts in different ways to colors in part through subjective 49 and in part through cultural conditioning, and the two are often hard to separate. Black and white, for example, 50 us intuitively (直觉) of night and day, darkness and light; their link with evil and good is likely the result of culture.

There exists a 51 tendency to feel that some colors are warm whereas other colors are cool. Colors that are near red on the color wheel (色轮) are 52 warm colors—which seem more 53 ; And colors near blue are regarded as cool colors, which seem more 54 . Scientists have demonstrated that exposure to red light increases the heartbeat and that exposure to blue light slows it down. For artists the 55 of warm and cool depends on the contrasting relationship between any two colors. A violet might be cooler than an orange, because it has blue in it, and the same violet might be warmer than green, because it has red in it. The warm-cool 56 helps to create exciting color contrasts because warm colors seem warmer next to cool colors and cool colors seem cooler next to warm colors.

A) partially K) arouses 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.

Foxes and farmers have never got on well. These small dog-like animals have long been accused of killing farm animals. They are officially classified as harmful and farmers try to keep their numbers down by shooting or poisoning them.

Farmers can also call on the services of their local hunt to control the fox population. Hunting consists of pursuing a fox across the countryside, with a group of specially trained dogs, followed by men and women riding horses. When the dogs eventually catch the fox they kill it or a hunter shoots it.

People who take part in hunting think of it as a sport; they wear a special uniform of red coats and white trousers, and follow strict codes of behavior. But owning a horse and hunting regularly is expensive, so most hunters are wealthy.

It is estimated that up to 100,000 people watch or take part in fox hunting. But over the last couple of decades the number of people opposed to fox hunting, because they think it is brutal (残酷的), has risen sharply. Nowadays it is rare for a hunt to pass off without some kind of confrontation (冲突) between hunters and hunt saboteurs (阻拦者). Sometimes these incidents lead to violence, but mostly saboteurs interfere with the hunt by misleading riders and disturbing the trail of the fox‘s smell, which the dogs follow.

Noisy confrontations between hunters and saboteurs have become so common that they are almost as much a part of hunting as the pursuit of foxes itself. But this year supporters of fox hunting face a much bigger threat to

B) considered L) satisfying

C) distinction H) universal M) respectively

D) appointment E) relaxing I) ascribes N) remind

J) stimulating O) replacement

F) associations G) remove

their sport. A Labour Party Member of the Parliament, Mike Foster, is trying to get Parliament to approve a new law which will make the hunting of wild animals with dogs illegal. If the law is passed, wild animals like foxes will be protected under the ban in Britain.

57. Rich people in Britain have been hunting foxes ___________.

A) for recreation C) to limit the fox population

B) in the interests of the farmers D) to show off their wealth

58. What is special about fox hunting in Britain?

A) It involves the use of a deadly poison. B) It is a costly event which rarely occurs. C) The hunters have set rules to follow.

D) The hunters have to go through strict training.

59. Fox hunting opponents often interfere in the game _____________.

A) by resorting to violence C) by taking legal action

B) by confusing the fox hunters D) by demonstrating on the scene

B) forbid hunting foxes with dogs

60. A new law may be passed by the British Parliament to ______________.

A) prohibit farmers from hunting foxes

C) stop hunting wild animals in the countryside D) prevent large-scale fox hunting 61. It can be inferred from the passage that ___________.

A) killing foxes with poison is illegal B) limiting the fox population is unnecessary

C) hunting foxes with dogs is considered cruel and violent

D) fox-hunting often leads to confrontation between the poor and the rich Passage two

Questions 62 to 66 are based on the following passage.

The decline in moral standards — which has long concerned social analysts — has at last captured the attention of average Americans. And Jean Bethke Elshtain, for one, is glad.

The fact the ordinary citizens are now starting to think seriously about the nation‘s moral climate, says this ethics (伦理学) professor at the University of Chicago, is reason to hope that new ideas will come forward to improve it.

But the challenge is not to be underestimated. Materialism and individualism in American society are the biggest obstacles. ―The thought that ‗I‘m in it for me‘ has become deeply rooted in the national consciousness,‖ Ms. Elshtain says.

Some of this can be attributed to the disintegration of traditional communities, in which neighbors looked out for one another, she says. With today‘s greater mobility and with so many couples working, those bonds have been weakened, replaced by a greater emphasis on self.

In a 1996 poll of Americans, loss of morality topped the list of the biggest problems facing the U.S. And Elshtain says the public is correct to sense that: Data show that Americans are struggling with problems unheard of in the 1950s, such as classroom violence and a high rate of births to unmarried mothers.

The desire for a higher moral standard is not a lament (挽歌) for some nonexistent ―golden age,‖ Elshtain says, nor is it a wishful (一厢情愿的) longing for a time that denied opportunities to women and minorities. Most people, in fact, favor the lessening of prejudice.

Moral decline will not be reversed until people find ways to counter the materialism in society, she says.

―Slowly, you recognize that the things that matter are those that can‘t be bought.‖

62. Professor Elshtain is pleased to see that Americans _____________.

A) have adapted to a new set of moral standards B) are longing for the return of the good old days C) have realized the importance of material things D) are awakening to the lowering of their moral standards

63. The moral decline of American society is caused mainly by ________________.

A) its growing wealth

B) the self-centeredness of individuals C) underestimating the impact of social changes D) the prejudice against women and minorities

. Which of the following characterizes the traditional communities?

A) Great mobility C) Emphasis on individual effort

B) Concern for one‘s neighbors D) Ever-weakening social bonds

B) attracted a lot of pubic attention D) began to appear in analysts‘ data

65. In the 1950s, classroom violence _______________.

A) was something unheard of C) was by no means a rare occurrence A) if people can return to the ―golden age‖ B) when women and men enjoy equal rights C) when people rid themselves of prejudice D) if less emphasis is laid on material things

Part V Cloze (15 minutes)

Directions: There are 20 blanks in the following passage. For each blank there are four choices marked [A], [B], [C], and [D] on the right side of the paper. You should choose the ONE that best fits into the passage. Then mark the corresponding letter on answer sheet 2 with a single line through the centre.

One summer night, on my way home from work I decided to see a movie. I knew the theatre would be air-conditioned and I couldn't face my 67 apartment.

Sitting in the theatre I had to look through the 68 between the two tall heads in front of me. I had to keep changing the 69 every time she leaned over to talk to him, 70 he leaned over to kiss her. Why do Americans display such 71 in a public place?

I thought the movie would be good for my English, but 72 turned out, it was an Italian movie. 73 about an hour I decided to give up on the movie and 74 on my popcorn (爆玉米花). I've never understood why they give you so much popcorn! It tasted pretty good, 75 . After a while I heard 76 more of the romantic-sounding Italians. I just heard the 77 of the popcorn crunching (咀嚼) between my teeth. My thought started to 78 . I remembered when I was in South Korea (韩国), I 79 to watch Kojak on TV frequently. He spoke perfect Korean --- I was really amazed. He seemed like a good friend to me, 80 I saw him again in New York speaking 81 English instead of perfect Korean. He didn't even have a Korean accent and I 82 like I had been betrayed.

When our family moved to the United States six years ago, none of us spoke any English. 83 we had begun to learn a few words, my mother suggested that we all should speak English at home. Everyone agreed, but

66. According to Elshtain, the current moral decline may be reversed ________________.

our house became very 84 and we all seemed to avoid each other. We sat at the dinner table in silence, preferring that to 85 in a difficult language. Mother tried to say something in English but it 86 out all wrong and we all burst into laughter and decided to forget it! We've been speaking Korean at home ever since.

67. A) warm 68. A) crack 70. A) while 72. A) since 73. A) Within 75. A) too

74. A) concentrate 76. A) much 77. A) voice 79. A) enjoyed 80. A) until 81. A) artificial 82. A) felt

B) hot B) view B) attention B) when

C) heated C) break C) space C) or

D) cool D) opening D) angle D) and D) motion D) as D) Over D) taste D) certainly D) few D) tone D) depart D) used D) therefore D) practical D) appeared D) Once D) calm D) speaking D) made

B) blank B) whenever

69. A) aspect 71. A) attraction

C) affection C) what C) For C) fix C) though C) no C) rhythm C) turned C) then C) perfect C) Before C) stiff C) saying C) came

B) After B) chew

B) any

B) still B) sound

78. A) wonder

B) wander B) because

C) imagine

B) happened B) informal

B) If B) quiet

B) looked C) seemed

83. A) While 84. A) empty 85. A) telling 86. A) worked

B) uttering

B) got

Part Ⅵ Translation (5 minutes)

Directions: Complete the sentences by translating into English the Chinese given in brackets. Please write your translation on Answer Sheet 2.

87. As is known to all, people who smoke (更可能得肺部疾病). 88. He (为说了谎话而内疚), so he went to apologize to her. . In the past several years, (粮食产量增长了10%)in this area. 90. What he thought and did at school (与这个问题毫无关系). 91. This reference letter is provided (应我以前的雇员的要求).