2020年12月英语四级真题(第二套解析)

2020年12月大学英语四级考试真题（二）Part IWriting(30 minutes)Directions： For this part you an allowed 30 minutes to write on the topic Changes in the Way ofTransportation. You should write at least 120 words but no more than 180 words.Part UListening Comprehension(25 minutes)Section ADirections: In this section，you will hear three news npons. At the end of each news report，you will hear two or three questions. Both the news report 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 1 with a single line through the centre.Questions 1 and 2 are based on the news report you have Just heardC) He lost a huge sum of money.D) He did an unusual good deed*C) Give some money to the waiter.D) Pay the waiters school tuition.1. A) He wanted to buy a home.B) He suffered from a shock.2. A) Invite the waiter to a fancy dinner.B) Tell her story to the Daily News.Questions 3 and 4 are based on the news report you have just heard.3. A) Whether or not to move to the states mainland.B) How to keep the village from sinking into the sea.C) Where to get the funds for rebuilding their village.D) What to do about the rising level of the seawater.4. A) It takes too long a time.C) It has to wait for the states final approval.B) It costs too much money.D) It faces strong opposition from many villagers.Questions 5 to 7 are based on the news report you have just heard.5. A) To investigate whether people are grateful for help.B) To see whether people hold doors open for strangers.C) To explore ways of inducing gratitude in people.D) To find out how people express gratitude.6. A) They induced strangers to talk with them.B) They helped 15 to 20 people in a bad mood.C) They held doors open for people at various places.D) They interviewed people who didnt say thank youD) About five years.Questicms 12 to 15 arc based on the conversation you have Just heard.12. A) At a travel agency.C) At an airline transfer service.B) At an Australian airport.D) At a local transportation authority.13. A) She would be able to visit more scenic spots.B) She wanted to save as much money as possible.C) She would like to have everything taken care of.D) She wanted to spend more time with her family.14. A) Four days.B) Five days.15. A) Choosing some activities herself.B) Spending Christmas with Australians.C) One week.D) Two weeks-C) Driving along the Great Ocean Road. ID) Learning more about wine making.Section CDirections： In this section, you will hear three passages. At the end of each passage, you will hear three or four questions. Both the passage and the questions will be spoken only once. After you hear a question，youmust choose the best answer from the four choices marked fi)， C) and D). Then mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 1 with a single line through the centre.Questions 16 to 18 are based on the passage you have just heard.16. A) Bring their own bags when shopping.C) Dispose of their trash properly.B) Use public transport when traveling.D) Pay a green tax upon arrival-17. A) It has not been doing a good job in recycling.B) It has witnessed a rise in accidental drowning.C) It has not attracted many tourists in recent years.D) It has experienced an overall decline in air quality.18. A) To charge a small fee on plastic prcxiucts in supermarkets.B) To ban single-use plastic bags and straws on Bali Island.C) To promote the use of paper bags for shopping.D) To impose a penalty on anyone caught littering.四级2020年12月 25Questions 19 to 21 are based on the passage you have19. A) It gives birth to several babies at a time.B) It is the least protected mammal species.20. A) Global wanning.B) Polluted seawaters.21. A) To mate.B) To look for food.Questions 22 to 25 are based cm the passage you have22. A) They prefer to drink low-fat milk.B) They think milk is good for health.23. A) It is not as healthy as once thought.B) It is not easy to stay fresh for long.24. A) They drink too many pints every day.B) They are sensitive to certain minerals.25. A) It is easier for sick people to digest.B) It provides some necessary nutrients.just heanlC) Its breeding grounds are now better preserved.D) Its population is now showing signs of increase.C) Commercial hunting.D) Decreasing birthrates.C) To escape hunters.D) To seek breeding grounds, just heanlC) They consume less milk these days.D) They buy more milk than the BritishC) It benefits the elderly more.D) It tends to make people fat.C) They lack the necessary proteins to digest it.D) They have eaten food incompatible with milk.C) It is healthier than other animal products.D) It supplies the body with enough calories.Part 夏Reading Comprehension(40 minutes)Section ADirections： In this section 9 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 carully 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.When my son completes a task* I cant help but praise him. Its only natural to give praise where praise is due, right? But is there such a thing as too much praise?According to psychologist Katherine Phillip children dont benefit from 26 praise as much as wed like to think. u Parents1 often praise, believing they are building their childs self-confidence. However, over-praising can have a 27 effect，” says Phillip. 14 When we use the same praise28，it may become empty and no longer valued by the child. It can also become an expectation that參anything they do must be 29with praise. This may lead to the child avoiding taking risks due tofear of 30 their parents. ”Does this mean we should do away with all the praise? Phillip says no. “The key to healthy praise is to focus on the process rather than the 31 . It is the recognition of a childs attempt，or the process in which they achieved somethingf that is essential,” she says. “Parents should encourage their child to take the risks needed to learn and grow. ”，So how do we break the 32of praise were all so accustomed to? Phillip says its important to 33 between “person praise” and aprocess praiseuPerson praise is 34saying how greatsomeone is. Its a form of personal approval. Process praise is acknowledgement of the efforts the person四级2020年12月26has just 35 Children who receive person praise are more likely to feel shame after losing，” says Phillip.fA) chooseB) constantC) disappointingD) distinguishE) exhaustingF) experiencedG) negativeH) outcomeI) patternJ) pluralK)repeatedlyL) rewardedM)separatelyN)simplyO)undertakenSection BDirections： In this sectionf you are going to read a passage with ten statements attached to if. Each statement contains information given in one of the paragraphs. Identify the paragraph from which the information is derived. You may choose a paragraph more than once. Each paragraph u marked with a letter. Answer the questions by marking the corresponding letter on Answer She9t2.Poverty is a story about us, not themA) Too often still, we think we know what poverty looks like. Its the way weve been taught the images weve been force-fed for decades. The chronically homeless The undocumented immigrant. The urban poor, usually personified as a woman of color9 the uwelfare queen” politicians still too often reference.B) But as income inequality rises to record levels in the United States)even in the midst of a record economic expansion those familiar images are outdated* hurtful and counterproductive to focusing attention on solutions and building ladders of opportunity.C) Todays faces of income inequality and lack of opportunity look like all of us. Its Anna Landre, a disabled Georgetown University student fighting to keep health benefits that allow her the freedom to live her life. ItsTiffanie Standard* a counselor for young women of color in Philadelphia who want to be tech entrepreneurs but who must work multiple jobs to stay afloat.【ts Ken Outlaw)a welder in rural North Carolina whose dream of going back to school at a local community college was dashed by Hurricane Florencejust one of the extreme weather events that have tipped the balance for struggling Americans across the nation.D) If these are the central characters of our story about poverty, what layers of perceptions, myths，andrealities must we unearth to find meaningful solutions and support? In pursuit of revealing this complicated reality，Mothering Justice* led by women of color* went last year to the state capital in Lansing Michigan to lobby on issues that affect working mothers. One of the Mothering Justice organizers went to the office of a state representative to talk about the lack of affordable childcare the vestigfis (痕迹)of a system that expected mothers to stay home with their children while their husbands worked. A legislative staffer dismissed the activists concerns telling her “my husband took care of thatI stayed home.wE) That comment says Mothering Justice director Danielle Atkinson，“was meant to shame” and relied on the familiar notion that a woman of color concerned about income inequality and programs that promote mobility must by definition be a single mom，probably with multiple kids. In this case，the Mothering Justice activist happened to be married. And in most cases in the America of 2019，the images that come to mind when we hear the words poverty or income inequality fail miserably inreflecting a complicated reality： poverty touches virtually all of us. The face of income inequality, for all but a very few of us，is the one we each see in the mirror.F) How many of us are poor in the U. S. ? It depends on who you ask. According to the Census Bureau， 38 million people in the U. S. are living below the official poverty thresholds. Taking into account economic need beyond that absolute measure 9 the Institute for Policy Studies found that 140 million people are poor or low-income. Thats almost half the U.S. population.G) Whatever the measure within that massive group, poverty is extremely diverse. We know that some people are more affected than others9 like children9 the elderly, people with disabilities and people of color.H) But the fact that 4 in 10 Americans cant come up with $ 400 in an emergency is a commonly cited statistic for good reason： economic instability stretches across race, gender, and geography. It even reaches into the middle classes，as real wages have stagnated (不增长for all but the very wealthy and temporary spells of financial instability are not uncommon.I) Negative images remain of who is living in poverty as well as what is needed to move out of it. The big American myth is that you can pull yourself up by your own efforts and change a bad situation into a good one. The reality is that finding opportunity without help from families* friends9 schools，and community is virtually impossible. And the playing field is nothing close to leveLJ) The FrameWorks Institute9 a research group that focuses on public framing of issues has studied what sustains stereotypes and narratives of poverty in the United Kingdom. “People view economic success and wellbeing in life as a product of choice, willpower, and drive,” says Nat Kendall-Taylor, CEO of FrameWorks. “When we see people who are struggling，” he says, those assumptions “lead us to the perception that people in poverty are lazy they dont care，and they havent made the right decisions. ”K) Does this sound familiar? Similar ideas surround poverty in the U.S. And these assumptions give a false picture of reality. “When people enter into that pattern of thinking，” says Kendall-Taylor, “its cognitively comfortable to make sense of issues of poverty in that way. It creates a kind of cognitive blindnessall of the factors external to a persons drive and choices that theyve made become invisible and fade from view.L) Those external factors include the difficulties accompanying low-wage work or structural discrimination based on race* gender，or ability. Assumptions get worse when people who are poor use government benefits to help them survive. There is a great tension between “the poor” and those who are receiving what has become a dirty word： welfare. ”M) According to the General Social Survey, 71 percent of respondents believe the country is spending too little on assistance to the poor.” On the other hand, 22 percent think we are spending too little on “welfare”： 37 percent believe we are spending too much.N) u Poverty has been interchangeable with people of colorspecifically black women and black mothers/ says Atkinson of Mothering Justice. Its true that black mothers are more affected by poverty than many other groups, yet they are disproportionately the face of poverty. For example*Americans routinely overestimate the share of black recipients of public assistance programs.O) In reality，most people will experience some form of financial hardship at some point in their lives.Indeed9 people tend to dip in and out of poverty perhaps due to unexpected obstacles like losing a job， or when hours of a low-wage job fluctuate.2020年12月28P) Something each of us can do is to treat each other with the dignity and sympathy that is deserved and to understand deeply that the issue of poverty touches all of us.36. One legislative staffer assumed that a woman of color who advocated affordable childcare must be a single mother.37. People from different races，genders，and regions all suffer from a lack of financial security.38. According to a survey, while the majority believe too little assistance is given to the poor, more than a third believe too much is spent on welfare.39. A research group has found that Americans who are struggling are thought to be lazy and to have made the wrong decisions.40. Under the old system in America, a mother was supposed to stay home and take care of her children.41. It was found that nearly 50% of Americans are poor or receive low pay.42. Americans usually overestimate the number of blacks receiving welfare benefits.43. It is impossible for Americans to lift themselves out of poverty entirely on their own.44. Nowadays it seems none of us can get away from income inequality.45. Assumptions about poor people become even more negative when they live on welfare.Section CDirections： 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 ) C) andD). You should decide on thebest choice and mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 2 with a single line through the centre. Passage OneQuestions 46 to 50 are based on the following passage.Boredom has，paradoxically9 become quite interesting to academics lately. In early May，Londons Boring Conference celebrated seven years of delighting in dullness. At this event，people flocked to talks about weatheri traffic jams，and vending-machine sounds* among other sleep-inducing topics.Whatt exactly is everybody studying? One widely accepted psychological definition of boredom is “the distasteful experience of wanting but being unable to engage in satisfying activity.n But how can you quantify a persons boredom level and compare it with someone elses? In 1986，psychologists introduced the Boredom Proneness Scale, designed to measure an individuafs overall tendency to feel bored. By contrast，the Multidimensional State Boredom Scale，developed in 2008, measures a persons feelings of boredom in a given situation.Boredom has been linked to behavior issues including inattentive driving，mindless snacking excessive drinkingi and addictive gambling. In fact，many of us would choose pain over boredom. One team of psychologists discovered that twothirds of men and a quarter of women would rather self-administer electric shocks than sit alone with their thcxights for 15 minutes. Researching this phenomenon，another team asked volunteers to watch boring，sad，or neutral films，during which they could self-administer electric shocks. The bored volunteers shocked themselves more and harder than the sad or neutral ones did.But boredom isnt all bad. By encouraging self-reflection and daydreaming* it can spur creativity. An early study gave participants abundant time to complete problem-solving and word-association exercises. Once all the obvious answers were exhausted* participants gave more and more inventive answers to 四级2020年12月 29 combat boredom. A British study took these findings one step further9 asking subjects to complete a creative challenge (coming up with a list of alternative uses for a household item). One group of subjects did a boring activity first，while the others went straight to the creative task. Those whose boredom pumps had been primed were more productive.In our always-connected world boredom may be a hard-to-define state but it is a fertile one. Watch paint dry or water boih or at least put away your smartphone for a while，and you might unlock your next big idea.46. When are people likely to experience boredom* according to an accepted psychological definition?A) When they dont have the chance to do what they want.B) When they dont enjoy the materials they are studying.C) When they experience something unpleasant.D) When they engage in some routine activities.47. What does the author say boredom can lead to?A) Determination.C) Mental deterioration.B) Concentration.D) Harmful conduct.48 What is the finding of one team of psychologists in their experiment?A) Volunteers prefer watching a boring movie to sitting alone deliberating.B) Many volunteers choose to hurt themselves rather than endure boredom.C) Male volunteers are more immune to the effects of boredom than females.D) Many volunteers are unable to resist boredom longer than fifteen minutes.49. Why does the author say boredom isnt all bad?A) It stimulates memorization.C) It may promote creative thinking.B) It allows time for relaxation.D) It may facilitate independent learning.50. What does the author suggest one do when faced with a challenging prob